City of Desire-Chapter 624: Day

I watched the practice of the recruits with the sergeant leading them.

"So, young," I said as I looked at the children marching in perfect order. Yes, they are children, a few months to fifteen.

It is the standard recruitment age in this world. I resisted it a lot and was still uncomfortable, but I needed to do it. However, these children will not see combat before they turn sixteen.

Recruiting them at this age is necessary before they manifest the class.

In three to six months, we will train them so they can gain the Soldier Class directly. This is better than recruiting people who already have classes such as Serf or Citizen, which then change into the Soldier Class.

"We are following the convention," said Stone, with his eyes focused on the marching.

He and others had whittled me down. I am not proud of what I am doing, but as he said, it is normal, and I need it, with my enemies sharpening their blades to finish me off.

"They will get a good class. Now that you are closer to Lv. 40; it will start to influence their classes," he added.

The power of the Lord is critical. It affects the things in their domain; the stronger they are, the stronger their influence will be.

Usually, one would need to be at Lv. 40 to influence things, but there are exceptions, like having the powerful Lord Class.

The Lord Class affects things, but not as much as my Primary Class.

It had started affecting things like it is at Lv. 40. The Carnal Classes and others related to it had started showing the change.

The most significant change is in Velvet Garden, but other brothels also show a noticeable change. They are getting better classes and good skills.

Merchant of Desire is as powerful as my Lord Class, but it isn't the reason alone. The biggest reason is the legacy and its domain.

Those in the business noticed it, and there is a movement to leverage that, which I am closely monitoring and manipulating.

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"How are the new weapons?" I asked as I walked out of the practice ground with Stone.

"As good as those that we are getting merchant state and empire, but we need them in greater quantities," he replied.

We've begun producing our own weapons since we can't always rely on buying from others. However, production remains low. It's difficult to attract any business—arms included—when you're constantly living under the shadow of a looming threat of the undead sword.

If not for the constant threat of the undead, major merchant houses would have already set up shop in the city, and the population would have at least doubled by now.

The city is growing fast. It's faster than anyone had thought, but that sword is holding back its potential. It will keep holding it back until we can prove we can stop the threat.

He requested, "We hope you'll increase the budget by 25% for the next three months."

"I'm already pushing it at 16%. I can't go even 1% higher," I replied.

I wanted to do it, but I really could not. I gave them every penny I could and more.

"We would barely be able to manage with 16%," he forced, but I shook my head. "You will have to," I replied.

I inspected other things in the next hour before returning to my carriage.

As I watched the city, it shifted and grew. Development is moving fast, but I refused to sacrifice its beauty in the process.

Every change is being made with aesthetics in mind. The establishment had made it a tourist city, but I don't want it to be the lone attraction.

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If people come to the city, I want them to enjoy it as a whole.

People visiting the city aren't just visiting the legacy—it is the main attraction—but they are also exploring the city and providing it with an increasing monthly revenue stream.

I didn't go to the city hall directly but went to the port first to see the progress on the bridge.

I could do it with the spell, but I want to show my presence. Amellus is doing a good job and fast. I am now entirely sure the city will get the bridge before the deadline.

I want it soon, not only because it is important for trade but also for the security of the city and its expansion.

An hour and a half later, the carriage stopped at the city hall. I walked inside and soon stepped into my office.

Hun!

I had just sat down and opened my mouth to ask Lola for something when I stopped.

"What happened?" she asked. "A legacy died," I replied. A few die every year, and new ones are born. This one that died came from Nezhar.

It's a rare one: an arcade. I would have loved to consume it.

The aspect it had given me would have helped me tremendously in the future.

It didn't take long before our share appeared over the legacy. I felt Caena's spell activating, capturing that small part of the core into the planet.

We didn't use to do that before; we only started it after the Halcyon's core assimilation.

Once inside the planet, they could forget about escaping from it. We used to let some escape, but not anymore.

The spell begins to work on it, with two streams coming out. One went to my core; it is another thing we started since Halcyon.

Now, my core is absorbing every part of the dead core. Not entirely, but the part that is suitable to my vision.

However, unlike with Halcyon Core, I am not going to get an aspect here. The part is too small; I need at least 7%- 8% of the legacy's core to get an aspect.

The rest of it went to the second stream, which is gathering in the second planet.

The spell was powerful enough that it didn't take even twenty minutes. In the end, I had a good amount of core essence and emotion essence.

I just wished that I wouldn't get a tiny part of it, but the whole core.

I pushed those thoughts away and focused on the work before me. Right now, I am dealing with the funding requests; everybody wants more.

Except for two, I decided to reject every request.

Most of those requests are valid, but the city didn't have the money they wanted. They will have to make do with the money they have.

Click!

The door opened, and Lola walked in before placing a thin file in front of me.

"Rayna," she said.

I nodded and picked up the file before starting to read through it. There were only a couple of pages, but what I had read made a smile appear on my face.

It's good, really good!

Sending her there was just an experiment. I did it to see whether it worked, and my god, it worked spectacularly. She is doing a fantastic job.

I will ask her to train others, but not too soon. I want her to refine her methods before teaching them to others.

"Ask General Hiren to send this to the silent forest," I told her. Then, I practiced aura for the second time in my office before focusing on the work again.

Soon, it was seven, and I walked out of the office.

Shortly, I am in my carriage, but I am not alone. Heron is there; he comes to city hall after school and does a good job.

I know because Robin had said so and because I looked in on him myself.

"How was your day?" I asked as the carriage began to move. "Good. I was able to observe Chief Robin and Hardt's meeting with the Manris's representative," he replied.

"What do you think about it?" I asked. "They are tough people, but I think we might be able to sign the agreement with them," he replied.

Manris is in the city-state of Oksall; I went there once, on the way to the Amberhold for the first time.

It is one of the top three cities in Oksall. It is now openly signing agreements with us. It was unofficial before, but Oksall is slowly loosening up.

More for Renwell region than the rest of the empire.

The carriage stopped at the house a few minutes later, and we went inside.

"Welcome home," said Carla, welcoming us. "It's good to be home," I replied, kissing her. It was a deep, long kiss.

She hadn't been in the city for more than one night in the past month.

"I am delighted you are not going anywhere for the week," I said. "Me too," she replied, and we walked inside.

I went to my suite to freshen up and showered before coming to the dining room, where the staff had already set the table.

I sat down, and the staff served us.

"Do you want to tell your brother what happened in school, Josie," said Carla. "What happened?" I asked my sister, curious.

"I have auditioned for the play," she answered.

I was surprised. Although I knew that there were functions in her school, she had never participated in them. However, I am glad she is doing it.

"That's good," I praised, and a small shy smile appeared on the girl's face.

"I am going to write to Mom about it," she informed. She looked delighted, but my emotions were more complex.

"You should," I replied. It is the only thing I could say.

I could bring her mom; I only had to accept their offer, but I could not do that to my people.

Dinner ended, and after a few minutes, the children retreated to their rooms, leaving Carla and me alone.

"She is very excited about the play. She will be disappointed if she doesn't get the role," said Carla as she put her head on my shoulder.

"Then she will have to try better next time," I replied.

I am not going to help my sister. It took quite an effort to convince her teachers to treat her like any other pupil; it would jeopardize that.

Carla looked at me, and I shook my head. Asking her not to do what she is thinking of doing. Carla loves them more than me. There aren't many things she wouldn't do for them.

"Fine," she agreed. However, it's evident in her eyes how unwilling she is to accept it.