City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Proofread by Thomas F

Caena Aris

I took a deep breath and looked at the complex charm in front of me.

It’s a spell—Grand Ritual of Kama Rakalis.

I will now merge it with the one in the legacy. I had already upgraded it, but that was before I got the tome, and this upgrade is with the tome.

I didn’t tell Remus about it; he would ask me to work on the most important thing.

Which I am doing, but over time, I struggle to focus on a single thing for long. My willpower isn’t strong enough to resist getting swept up in it.

I am upgrading the important things since I got the tome, and this is the most important thing.

Ever since I started, I’ve had the feeling that I should do it as soon as possible. It is another reason why I am doing it. Witch’s feelings are never wrong.

As I finished the breath, I activated the upgrade, and it began to merge with the ritual.

The largest planet before me is shaking as it absorbs the new changes. Like all the upgrades, no changes will happen to it, right now.

The new upgrade will only take shape when the legacy advances.

‘Caena, you should focus on what is important,’ Remus’s voice rang out in my mind. He is in his training session with Bell, but he still sensed it and called me out.

‘I am doing that,’ I replied.

It took nearly an hour, but the upgrade was successfully absorbed. Seeing that, I heaved a sigh of relief and slumped back on the chair, tired.

I had slept for only three hours last night, which is better than most days, when I usually sleep for around two and a half hours.

The resting skills and the legacy have more than twice the effect on someone’s sleep.

It’s like sleeping six to seven hours for a normal person, but my work is very taxing. More sleep would have been helpful, but unfortunately, I didn’t have time.

There are now only three days before the undead come, and I have yet to finish with the spell.

I am close, but not finished.

I turned to the spell, and it’s powerful. It needs to be powerful enough to break through the protection of artifacts, aura, skills, and everything else that stands in its path.

If it worked, it would give us the greatest chance of victory. I could even say, without it, the victory wouldn’t be possible.

Knock Knock!

I worked on it till the knock rang out on my office door. I have given strict instructions not to disturb me unless it’s essential.

However, it was I who had asked them to come.

“Come in,” I said, putting away the spell. The door opened, and Cath and Danielle walked inside. In their hands is the most important file.

“Madam,” they greeted.

“Have you finished it?” I asked them. “Madam Della had personally counted all the girls, and we did the same in here,” she replied, placing the file in front of me.

I took it in my hands and opened it. It’s not that big, it didn’t take me long to read through it, but when I finished, my expression couldn’t help but become serious.

They had just presented me with the final list of people who had left the establishment: girls and other staff.

It is the final list, as the city had been fully sealed since dawn, and nobody could leave. Those who wanted to leave had already left.

Yesterday, over a hundred girls left, along with much of the staff.

They left my office a few minutes later, while I finished some of the work I had before walking out.

Click!

A few minutes later, I stepped into Remus’s office. Carla and Margaux are already there. I nodded at them and sat down in my seat.

“It’s the forty-seventh day,” said Margaux. Carla and I nodded.

After this meeting, we will read Onaz’s will. She has a lot of investments, jewellery, and money. She had left us as its executors.

Today we will open it. We would have opened it before, but it is declared in the will that we should read it on the forty-seventh day of her death.

Click!

We were talking when the door opened, and Remus walked inside. He nodded and sat down.

“Is it the final one?” he asked, looking at the file in front of him. “Yes,” replied Margaux. He opened it and began to read, his expression becoming serious with every page.

He finished it, placed the file on his desk, and signed it.

“Of the seventeen hundred and nine girls, only five hundred and sixty-two had remained,” he finally spoke after seconds of silence.

I could feel the pain in his eyes; we are feeling the same thing.

It’s less than a third, and it made me feel terrible. We had spent a lot of money and resources on training these girls, but now they had just left.

“There is a silver lining to it. The ones that left are loyal to us. Enough to risk their life for it,” replied Carla, to which he smiled.

Carla is right; those who stayed are loyal, not because they have no choice.

I have read the data thoroughly. Ninety-two percent of those who stayed are working girls; they had enough money to leave and spend their lives comfortably anywhere.

Over 80% of the girls we had brought in the past eight months had left.

Most of the girls who stayed have been with us for a year or more.

There is only one anomaly in it. Those are the girls from the open brothel. Fewer of them left compared to the other batches of girls we brought at the same time.

These girls seemed to have less fear of death and felt more grateful to Velvet Garden.

“70% of the girls left, 86% of the teachers, and over 75% of the other staff. If we survive this, we will need to rebuild from the start.” Remus said.

“That will be a good thing, because these people are going to be the foundation for a better Velvet Garden,” replied Margaux, making Remus smile.

We discussed a few more things before his expressions turned serious.

“Adran mercenaries are coming tonight, they will be staying for a few hours in the legacy,” he informed. Surprising me and others.

“I want them to stay the night,” he added a moment later.

I know Adran mercenaries. It’s a Class A mercenary company led by an Lv. 40+ powerhouse from the merchant states.

“We can postpone the function,” Caena said. Today is Andrea’s birthday, and we are celebrating.

“There is no need. They will be on the top floor, and some might go to the red. We are more than capable of handling such guests,” he replied.

“Why are they coming?” asked Carla. “Likely a show of force by the merchants,” he replied.

Which is most likely the case. The merchants may have made the deal, but they are still at odds with Vris’alud and would want to show them who is boss, without antagonizing.

Adran mercenaries are a good choice for that.

Speaking of Lv. 40; a powerful one coming to the region today. Marquess Grimvale, along with Countess Velaniel and Baron Haldraven. To take over the cities and the fortress.

“Also inform Miss Wells about,” he added. It is her former lover. It would be wise to inform her, even if they broke up amicably.

“Onaz’s will, have you read it?” he asked. “We will after we finish here,” I replied.

“Tell me if you need anything,” he said sombrely, and we nodded.

A few minutes later, we walked out of his office and stepped into Carla’s. It’s about the same size as mine, but decorated in a completely different way.

It features light colours and is minimalist, with the light from large windows illuminating the room.

We all sat down, and a moment later, a large envelope appeared in front of us. It has four names, us three and Ina, but she couldn’t be here.

“Let’s open it,” she said, and opened it. Removing a notarised contract and a couple of letters.

There are seven letters; six of them are addressed to ‘My dearest Nahin,’

“Does anyone know this Nahin?” asked Carla, and we shook our heads. “I will ask Ina,” said Margaux, a few seconds later, she shook her head as well.

“Onaz had never mentioned it to her,” she added a few seconds later.

“Let’s hope this letter provides the answer,” she said, opening the only letter addressed to her and taking out the envelope.

“Dear sisters, if you are reading this, it means I am dead,” read Carla.

“I hope it was not the undead that killed me. The thought of getting killed by those filthy things sends shudders through my heart.”

Hearing that, a smile couldn’t help but appear on our faces. It’s not the first time we’ve heard those words.

“You must be wondering why I asked you to read my will on the forty-seventh day of my death.” She read, making me curious.

“The reason is my son, Nahin. He was with me for only forty-seven days before he was taken away from me while I watched helplessly.”

My face turned sombre, and tears flowed down.

Whores don’t have children; they feed us a drug that stops them, but sometimes it doesn’t work, and if we bear children, most of them are terminated through alchemy.

There was no choice; rarely were we allowed to bear children. Even when we do, the child is taken away from us.

“I had to fight hard to keep my daughter. I was lucky that the madam was on my side; without her, I wouldn’t have been able to do that,” Margaux said in a barely audible voice.

That would have been Carla’s mother.

For a few seconds, there was a silence before Carla returned to the letter.

“I was fourteen when he was born. It was on the ship that brought me to this continent. I loved him from the moment I laid my eyes on him, and there hasn’t been a day that has gone by when I didn’t think about him.”

I could feel her pain through the words, and it only made me cry harder.

“The unbearable pain; she bore it all alone,” said Margaux, wiping away her tears.

“I used all the money I earned to try and find him, especially since I had come here. I had hired people, but they could not find even a hint of it.”

“So, I request that you, my sisters, find my son. Tell him that his mother loved him more than life, tell him that his mother was thinking about him till the last breath of her life.“

There was a silence before Carla wiped away her tears and refocused on the letter.

“As for my wealth and assets, they will be divided equally into two parts. One will go to my son, and the other will go to the Velvet Garden Foundation, to spend on benefits for whores like me.”

There are a few more lines that Carla read before putting the letter down.

“All this pain, she had kept to herself. Never revealing to anyone,” said Margaux. “We never do,” I replied with a sigh.

There was a silence, each of us busy in our thoughts, when Carla spoke.

“I know someone good at finding people. I will contact him,” said Carla. “It’s the least we could do for our fallen sister,” replied Margaux.

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