City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Proofread by Thomas F

When I stepped into my office, Valentina and Stone were already sitting there.

I nodded and sat down.

“Abin, left,” he informed. It froze me; nearly every hour, people are leaving. I should get used to it, but every now and then, it still catches me off guard.

Abin was a Lieutenant Colonel and a good one at that. He had fought in the Battle of Panar. Now, he had left, leaving us with one less higher-level officer.

“Who are you thinking of promoting?” I asked. We can’t leave the position empty in the army. It affects the cohesion and chain of command, not to mention morale, the most critical aspect of the army.

“Yregh Krimal,” he replied, and I smiled.

“It’s the second man we are taking from him; he will not like it,” I said. Stone smiled as well. “I wouldn’t have, if there were any other choice.” He replied.

Captain Yregh Krimal, lieutenant of Orok, from the elite battalion.

He is a capable man, a forest orc. We put him there as an experiment, as the forest orcs hate Orok. The man had proven that he could keep his prejudices at bay and remain professional.

He had even developed a bond with him.

“It will be the last officer we will take from him. We don’t want to hollow his battalion.” I said.

People from many units are leaving, but Orok’s is one of the few anomalies. People left his battalion, too; soldiers, to be more specific, not a single officer from his unit had left.

His battalion performed extraordinarily well in the Battle of Panar. Making all the resources I had spent on him worth it.

I have high hopes for him and don’t want to do anything to jeopardise the strength and future of the battalion.

He only nodded at that. He is not willing to promise it completely. The condition is bad, and it might become worse, forcing him to make the decision that he didn’t want to make.

“How is Axeer adjusting?” I asked. “She has said the number of men is beyond her limit, but she is working on it,” he replied.

Three days ago, I had elevated Colonel Axseer to Brigadier General. It is a position we axed before, but now, once more, we have brought it back.

In many places, Colonels and brigadier generals handle the same number of people, with greater authority and higher responsibility.

In other places, the number of men they command is higher.

Previously, it was used by the count in Greltheaven, and that is why we axed that position, as it does not suit our needs. However, we have now brought it back in a later form.

“Ask her to keep working on it. If she needs anything, we will provide it,” I stated.

She is our spirit shaman; the best kind. We have a few of them, but none are as suited for the battlefield as her.

It is incredible what she could do with it.

Now we had handed her command of more men than she could handle, but she would do it; she had to do it. We wouldn’t have done that if we had any choice, but unfortunately, we do not.

“I had told her that as well,” he replied.

Many are leaving, but one group that is leaving the least is the Orcs. The forest orcs, actually, the other orcs, including those from Mayhurst Island, are also leaving, like everybody else.

The city is their home. They cannot return to the forest, nor can they go anywhere.

Many of them were offered the position by the merchant state and other kingdoms, but most have rejected it. It made me really glad that I took a chance with them.

They have become pillars of the city since the first battle, and they will help the city with the greatest battle in the coming few weeks.

A few minutes passed, and I asked him a few more questions.

‘Lord Silver, he is here,’

A voice rang out in my mind. I stopped speaking. “Let him in,” I replied, and a moment later, the door opened and Rutto walked in.

I had sensed him earlier entering the city and wanted to pull that bag off him, but controlled the urge.

Click!

The door opened, and a plump man walked inside; he is now thinner than before, but still plump.

Seeing him, a big smile appeared on my face.

“Lord Silver,” he greeted before nodding at the two. “Lord Rutto, welcome back,” I replied, before asking him to take the seat in front of me.

“Thank you, my lord,” he replied as he sat down.

“Lord Rutto, you have done a huge service to the city. Bringing the artifact at the time of the great need. For this, the dominion is grateful to you,” I said to him.

I could have simply asked him to take out the artifact immediately, but the man deserves words of gratitude.

“I just did my job, my lord,” he replied, but I could see the words had pleased him greatly. It’s not a lie when people say words have power.

Sometimes, they could do a job that a bucketful of gold can’t.

There was a moment of silence before the man brought his hand into the bag and took out a wooden box, placing it in front of me.

“The Belt of Tethered Fang,” he said, opening the box, revealing the artifact inside.

“It’s beautiful,” gasped Valentina, and it is.

It is made of thousands of crystalline strings, woven together and bolted in delicate bronze nails. It features a hexagonal bronze buckle filled with liquid, in which a delicate, small black fang floats.

It was forged eight thousand years ago. Those delicate blue strings aren’t strings, but the sinews.

The black fang belongs to a once-powerful being.

The Belt of Tethered Fang is an artifact of many abilities. With our current abilities, we will only be able to harness the first layer of its abilities.

Those are to strengthen abilities. It is why it is classified as a physical enhancement type artifact.

It is not a pure physical enhancement type of artifact, but those are the abilities that most people were able to harness. It had been over five hundred years since someone was able to harness abilities beyond that.

“Complete physical enhancement; it is a dream artifact of any warrior.” Stone said.

The artifact not only enhances strength, speed, and defense, but also improves the senses, reaction time, and perception.

It made me want to take it for myself. It will significantly enhance my power, but I am not the right person for it.

I looked for a few seconds before looking at Lola. She took the box in her hand, and it had disappeared. It is in a better state than Stone’s Halberd, but worse than General Azalia’s Saber.

Caena will use the core and charms to heal its damage as much as possible.

“You will get it tomorrow,” I said to him.

We have already decided on the person who will get the artifact.

It is very suitable for them, but it will be a match made in heaven if they were able to harness the next layer of abilities of this artifact.

A few minutes later, they had left, while I remained in my office with a smile on my face.

The artifact would help us tremendously. It immediately increased our chances of survival by several percentage points.

…

Artin Kalos

The ship had finally stopped; a minute after that, I stepped out of the ship.

There are a lot of people on the ship, over 90% of them are going to the legacy—the last chance for common people to experience it before the undead conquered it.

It will be conquered, there is no question about it. I hope she is not too attached to it.

I finished the immigration process, which was as smooth as a big port, and walked toward the carriage stand, taking a look around.

The port is filled with people, busier than I had thought it would be.

“Silver is doing a good job; I heard there are no riots here.” Said Lams. He was sitting beside me on the journey; he is a merchant from Oksall, coming to visit the legacy.

It is his fifth time, actually, and this time, he won’t be just exploring the store floors.

He said he has got a table in Velvet Red, the brothel part of the legacy. The man seemed quite excited about it, and he barely remained seated throughout the journey.

“They seemed to be managing well,” I replied.

I have seen cities become empty in times like this, or filled with chaos, like the other cities in the region.

Though it looked peaceful, I could feel the tension in the air. The heavy cloud of impending danger weighs on the minds of everyone, whether they are tourists or citizens.

Soon, we reached the carriage stand. “It’s nice meeting you, Venzas. Let’s hope we will meet again,” he said, before stepping into the carriage waiting for him.

I sat on the public one, and a few minutes later, it began to move toward the city.

It had been over six months since I had encountered the little rogue asking my name. It didn’t take me long to find the information about him, and I am surprised.

There are only three people who know that name and where to find me.

Two of them are dead. Only one is alive.

I know it is her; only she knows it. I had been waiting for over a decade. Many times, it felt as though something worse had happened, but I kept hold of my hope.

Finally, it happened, and soon, I will see her once more. I still feel guilty for what happened. I wasn’t able to protect her and her parents.

I wanted to come here immediately, but it was too risky. They are searching for me as they are searching for her.

I had to be careful and meet some people who had been waiting for her, like I had been doing before I came here.

Now, I have to find her here, and that wouldn’t be difficult. I just need to meet with the little rogue.

I already know who he is, what he does, and where he lives. However, I will not be approaching him immediately.

While I am desperate to meet her, I am very well aware that this could be a trap for me.

This is a perfect place, a city at the outskirts of the empire, that is busy dealing with its own problems. They won’t care what happens here, while the merchants will look the other way, like they always do.

As for the undead, they won’t care about these things as long as it didn’t affect their plans.

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