City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

“With a 5% discount. It will be twenty-one thousand and sixty Krals.” Said, Nas. 
 
Kral of merchant cities is imperial of empire.
 
The currencies of this world work differently. The value of a currency depends on the material used to make it. Empire and merchant city-states used the same formula thus, their value is also the same.
 
Twenty thousand and sixty krals are equal to the two million and six thousand crowns.
 
The girls here cost me over more than double that of Namdar, but their number is also nearly double. 
 
It is fine, the cost of girls’ contracts is the least of expenses. Before, they debut, I will need to spend many times more on them. The teachers, the spa, custom dresses, and many other things, all of which cost a lot of money.
 
I wrote the check, and we signed the contracts. 
 
“It’s nice doing business with you. Mister Silver.” She said as we shook hands. “Likewise, miss Nas,” I replied. “Please come back tomorrow. We have a huge collection and you have seen only a fraction of it today,” she added when I set to leave.
 
To that, I smiled.
 
Soon, we walked out of the store and sat in the carriage. “Another indentured store or back to the mansion?” asked Carla.
 
“Let’s go shopping for accessories, but first we will have dinner,” I said. Thankfully, the reservation is made in an excellent restaurant. 
 
Carla told the driver of the place and half an hour later, we reached there. The name of the restaurant is glass, and it is made of glass. Even the table and cutlery were made of glass, and I was surprised when I saw the servers wearing fabric clothes.
 
I thought about seeing everything is glass. The clothes would also be of glass.
 
Though the restaurant was quirky, the food they served was surprisingly good. Little better than even from the restaurant from which we had eaten yesterday.
 
After we finished the meal, we went to the boutique. Where I had got another surprise. Caena is surprisingly good at fashion or at least choosing clothes based on Eudo’s requirements.
 
I wanted to bring him, but the staff of the studio is not good enough to work without him. 
 
Though, he said, in a few months, some will gain enough skills and expertise that they will work without him. I hope that happens because Eudo is valuable, and I don’t want to keep him constrained in the studio.
 
“Have the girls arrived?” I asked Vikdyr the moment I returned. “Yes. I had set them into the arranged rooms.” He replied.
 
“Good,” I said and walked inside the mansion and went to my room to sleep, while Carla and Caena checked on the girls.
 
Tomorrow, we will buy more contracts, but from a different store. It is wise to be not dependent on one supplier, not to mention, every store had a specialization.
 
The one I had gone to today had more dwarfs and dwarf blood. The other shops will have something different, and I want to check it all out.
 
Soon, I reach my suit, and a minute later, I was fast asleep on my bed. Caena had helped me with the spell, but I was still tired.
 
It was exhaustive and tomorrow would be going to be even more exhaustive.
 
The next day, I woke up at dawn. I freshened up and showered before walking into the kitchen. Even in this early morning, Vikdyr was awake, impeccably dressed in a suit.
 
“Shall I ask the chef to set a breakfast?” he asked. “No, wait till Carla and Caena arrive,” I said and say down, before picking up the paper. The news is general, politics and war, with big of a market.
 
Hun!
 
One piece of news had attracted my eyes. I had heard about people talking yesterday. Some seemed quite excited about it.
 
“Can you get me the tickets to this dual?” I asked Vikdyr. “The best tickets have been sold out,” he replied smoothly, but I kept staring at him. 
 
“There may be some available in the black market, but they will be expensive. At least three times expensive their original price,” he added after a few seconds of silence.
 
“It is fine,” I said.
 
If it had been a normal duel, I wouldn’t have been much interested, but it is between powerhouses of Level 30, and not a normal powerhouse either.
 
One is Knight Commander Valra from the order of Blazing Fist and the other is Viscount Bal Luran of house Locklaw of the Kingdom of Mahal. 
 
The thing that makes it interesting is that both are accomplished, warriors. Fought in many wars.
 
It is a grudge duel. 
 
Two decades ago, when Merchant City-States fought a minor war against Mahal. The Father of Viscount Luran fought against Knight Commander Valra and lost. A week ago, Viscount Luran challenged Knight Commander Valra for dual and he accepted.
 
They will fight the dual in the central arena. The biggest arena in Owlspring, with a capacity of three hundred thousand.
 
Half an hour later, Carla and Caena arrived, and we had breakfast before we walked out of the mansion.
 
Yesterday, we were quite late. Today, we are going early. We plan to get more girls today.
 
Forty minutes later, the carriage had stopped in front of the store. If yesterday’s store had a spartan feel, this one had delicateness in it.
 
It is a rose-colored six-story building, with simple but masterful elvish designs carved into it.
 
We stepped out of the carriage and walked inside the store, and entered a beautifully decorated lobby, which gives a serene feeling.
 
They have even placed the women in the lobby on round platforms. Those seven girls were no common whores. Each one of them is Level 30+ and their contracts cost millions of crowns.
 
“Welcome to Lunaryn Indentured. Mister Silver. I am Alen Onvyr, I will be at your service,” said the middle-aged elf with radiant raven hair as he stopped beside us.
 
“I have a big ordered Alen, and these are my requirements,” I said and immediately, Carla handed him the note. He took the note and read it, before turning to me.
 
“It will take fifteen minutes for me to arrange the room. Till then, why don’t I show you around our store,” he said and handed the note to the women behind him, and spoke a few words, before turning to me.
 
For fifteen minutes, we browsed through the store, looking at the women they were offering.
 
Like the store yesterday, they offer girls of all races but specialize in elves. Which is no surprise since the store is run by elves.
 
“Mister Silver, the viewing room is set,” he informed me and took me to the fourth floor. Into a well-decorated room. 
 
Which is the same size as the room yesterday, with a table and comfortable chairs.
 
“Should I start bringing the girls, Mister Silver?” he asked. “Yes,” I replied. 
 
I opened my diary, set a pen, and waited. I did not have to wait for long as a beautiful young woman in her early twenties walked inside.
 
She had raven hair, a delicate face, and clear blue eyes. She is pure human and one look at her, and I know. I am going to choose her before I even heard a single word about her.
 
She had the face; I need in my establishment.
 
“This is Sabra. She is a pure huma…” he introduced. After he finished the introduction, I used my skills and asked my questions.
 
Learning from yesterday, I only used the skills only when I need them and did not keep them active. 
 
Sabra left a minute later and immediately another woman came and then another. Hours passed and names in the diary kept increasing. By the time we have paused in the afternoon; the numbers have already crossed two hundred and fifty.
 
We have come a few hours early and set the room from the beginning. Which saved a lot of time.
 
I am also quite happy, as girls here are more of my taste than the caskheart indentures. 
 
We ate the boxed lunch that Jonah brought. It is not the only thing he had brought, he also brought tickets. 
 
They had cost a lot, but I don’t mind paying.
 
We finished our lunch quickly and continued for two and a half hours more, before stopping for good.
 
“I will give you the privacy to decide,” said Alen, when stopped. As he left, Caena touched my cheek without me asking, and a burst of vitality entered inside me, taking all my tiredness away.
 
“Thank you,” I said to her and turned to my diary.
 
For the next two and a half hours, we reviewed one name, and after another, before finally selecting fifty-three of them.
 
“Alen,” I said, and a second later, he opened the door and came inside. “Have you decided on the girls, Mr. Silver?” he asked. “Yes, this is the list,” I replied, and Carla handed him the list.
 
Half an hour later, we walked out of the store, spending nearly three million crowns on the girls.
 
“Twenty girls more tomorrow and we will be done,” said Carla as the carriage begin to move toward the restaurant.
 
We are going to have an early lunch before going to the central arena to watch the dual.
 
“If we are lucky, we will be finished by the afternoon tomorrow,” I said. I am planning on buying the contracts of about a hundred girls. 
 
It is the most girls I had ever brought, but I need them. 
 
The establishment, in its current size, could host one hundred fifty to one hundred seventy girls easily. 
 
An establishment running at its full capacity will bring huge profits, and I need those profits to push my plans forward. The next stage is big, and I needed hundreds of millions of crowns for it.
 
The establishment at full capacity will help me in achieving that quickly.

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Chapter 83: Duel