City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Margaux Swan

"No, we cannot agree with this. There will be no compromise on it," I replied, and the power of the whole legacy bore down on me.

It felt like there was a massive mountain over me, and if I even shook a little. It will crush me with every ounce of weight it has.

I wanted to kill the old man as he had made my life hell. In the past two and a half days.

People come here to the legacies to relax, but since I came here, I have felt nothing but the stress from here.

"Fine, we will agree," said the half-elf with a sigh.

"With this, the negotiation concluded," said Chief Hendriks, sounding relieved.

Only six people are negotiating. Theos Halcyon, his daughter, and his Grandson. On our side, it is Hendriks, Cath, and I.

It was the third day of the negotiations, and it was hard. I am so tired, I have never been and don't want to do this again, especially in the legacy.

The old bastard had used the power of the legacy to press us. Made us tired; it was hell.

"Please send the draft for approval to Lord Silver. If possible, we want to finalize the agreement today."

"That won't be a problem," I replied and got up with Hendricks and Cath.

"Miss Swan, can I have a word with you in private?" asked the old man.

He didn't talk much in negotiations. He had let his daughter handle it, but he used the power of the legacy on us, and quite mercilessly at that.

It was hard for us. It would have been harder, if not for the protection of our own legacy.

I fared a little better. Since I had little extra protection with the appointment as 'Envoy' which increased my stats further.

"Ok," I said, despite not wanting to. He smiled and turned to his daughter.

"I will give you some privacy," said the half-elf, and she left with her son. Hendriks and Cath had also left after giving me the look.

Soon, the door closed, and the old man turned to me.

"First, let me begin by apologizing for my conduct. It was beyond appropriate," he apologized.

Saying I was surprised, would be an understatement. An apology would be the last thing I had been expecting. I thought there would be some outrageous demand from him.

"I wanted to make sure. I would be handing my legacy to the right people," he explained, and his eyes kind of become lost.

I don't think the 'legacy' he referring to is this magical building, but his name.

"I don't think, you have anything to worry about, Lord Halcyon."

"Your casinos are the best on the continent. Even without the legacy, your business will thrive without a doubt," I said, to which he laughed.

It is full of mirth. The dark kind.

"I have a been a successful businessman man, Miss Margaux. I had used my legacy to build an extensive business empire. Which is the biggest flaw of business,"

"The legacy is base, the moment it disappeared. The entire business would start to crumble," he said in such a way, that it made me shudder.

It kind of reminded me of something. Lord Silver had said a few months ago.

It is about the business of the legacies. He said the influence of the legacy is so strong that the moment they die; the business built on it also starts to disappear.

It is not the fault of business, but the privileges the legacy had provided them.

Most heirs couldn't handle the loss of privileges and end up making a lot of poor decisions. Along with external factors, the businesses sink.

"The enemies I had made, will make sure, that will happen," he added and the smile on his face lost the mirth.

"I think, you are being too pessimistic, my lord. Have faith in your children," I said to the man.

"My sons are useless; they still don't understand how bad things are going to get for them," he replied, shaking his head.

"At least, my daughter is smart. She had got that from her mother. She was always good at recognizing the changing tides," he added with a sigh.

I didn't say anything to that.

On the surface, everything is so great here, but looking deeply. Everything is shaky, at breaking limit,

This old man holding it all on his shoulder, but the moment he dies.

Everything will come crashing down.

For a moment, there was a silence, before he turned to me. His eyes have become clear, and all the pessimism, regret, and disappointments disappeared from his eyes.

At the same time, I felt the change appearing in the room.

The surrounding mist got denser; I could feel privacy activating and becoming powerful as it merged with the power of legacy.

"When I die, I am going to do something. It will benefit your legacy tremendously." He said, with his eyes of conviction and defiance.

"I only hope, that your lord would remember this favor," he added.

I don't know what to say about that, because I don't know what he is talking about.

Though, I am sure. Master Silver would.

"I will repeat your words to Master Silver. It will be his decision, what he does with it," I said carefully, not promising anything other than being a messenger.

"That's all I want, Miss Swan," said the old man with a smile.

Click!

A second later, the door clicked open, and I walked out.

"What did he want?" asked Cath softly as she appeared beside me. "He just wanted to ask a few things about the legacy," I lied.

Those words are only for the ears of Master Silver.

Soon, we reached the end of the hall and stepped outside way, guarded by two Lv. 30 and the casino comes into view.

It is the second most beautiful place; I have ever seen. The first is the home.

Old Man Vanis's tavern is great, but it couldn't compare to this grand casino.

It's luxury and opulence everywhere, with bright, and vibrant lights coming from the grand chandeliers. There is music playing and sounds of games running in the background.

"I have seen their financials; is a gold mine. Velvet garden couldn't compare to it," said Cath.

They are showing us everything. How they work, how much they earn. The things they use and everything and it's impressive.

"They had decades, while the velvet garden isn't even a year old,"

"We won't need this much time to be so good. A decade would be more than enough for us," I replied.

Saying Onyx Halcyon is a gold mine is a good analogy, but the velvet garden would be better.

I am confident, that it won't take us even a decade to earn more money than this casino legacy, despite it being the business of money.

The plan had already begun when Master Silver planted those plants and gave Miss Eva the access to mist.

His every action has a purpose; those seeing from the outside, may not see the connections, but to us, the purpose is clear as the day.

Every plant we planted is expensive and sold for massive money. It hasn't been two months, and we haven't even harvested 15%.

Over 70% of the plants hadn't even matured. A year from now, it will be a completely different story.

Master Silver does not want to sell plants and the resources they produce. He thinks that is the most inefficient; it is like handing the fruit of our labor to others.

It's why only 30% of our share of the harvest had been sold, while the 60% is carefully stored.

There is a plan for them, a grand plan. When I heard it, I was shocked.

It's the same for the access of essence to Miss Eva and Guildmaster Gagarin. Everything crafted using the mist will be the property of a velvet garden.

At least 50% of their sold value would belong to the velvet garden.

It's the reason every store owner in the tower crafts their own stuff. We could have chosen better stores; there were a lot of them in the city and outside, but we chose them.

They are quite talented, and the plan is to give them access to the mist.

Which they will have to earn.

There is an outrageous demand for the stuff forged with the mist. People will pay any prize for those things, and we have already been contacted about it by hundreds of people.

It will take time, years before what Master Silver had envisioned comes out, and when it does.

There will be no legacy of the same grade would be able to compare us.

This legacy is seven floors tall and occupies an area of a hundred thousand square feet. It used to be the biggest legacy under Grade III before the velvet garden took its place.

We have already explored the legacy. So, we simply walked toward the bar, the most exclusive one to relax for a while.

Any bar would have been fine, but we are on the top floor. Which is the most exclusive one and everything here is exclusive.

Soon, we reached the entrance of it, and the guards opened the door.

"Miss Swan and Miss Arga," Stanol greeted us at the door as always.

He is a middle-aged man of about my age. He is a tall, handsome man with thick blond hair and green eyes.

"Mr. Stanol," I said with a smile.

"I believe, the negotiations are complete?" he asked as he led us toward our usual place, while many people watched. Some sneakily, some openly.

I could even feel some snooping skills targeting us. Wanting to hear, what we were talking about.

"Thankfully, yes. Your lord had been a tough negotiator," I said, and the man smiled. "I heard that you were the tough one, Miss Swan," he said, and I laughed.

I played along with him as showered me with compliments while Cath watched in mirth.

He is spending his effort on the wrong person. He should focus on Cath. He will have to convince her to be hired in the velvet garden.

We are allowing them their staff, but it will be up to us to choose them.

It is one of the points on which, we negotiated the most. Master Silver interviews every person. From the manager, to cleaner.

He likes to control everything.

Since he isn't here, the job will fall on us, or rather Cath, and two more people, who will be coming tomorrow to help us.

Over thousands of people work in this legacy, while only 30% will be hired.

We have made only one exception. We have given them twelve slots; they can choose any twelve people and we won't reject them.

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