Chapter 152: An Escalating Enterprise

And the days after that, Luke sold like ice-cold lemonade on a hot day.

Two hundred pieces today, five hundred tomorrow, and on the busiest day, a thousand.

Four days in, and the money coming in hit 12 million Scrips.

He made 12 million because many Guilds were buying at the same time. One Guild cannot account for twelve million alone.

Later, three more guilds joined. The first guilds wanted to keep him and his goods to themselves, but news always leaks out somehow. Also, there can be alliances. For example, the new Blue Star Guild was a long-time neighbor of Nexus Guild and Green Grace Guild.

The more buyers, the bigger the operation, and the smoother the money flowed.

Curious, Luke asked them what they were going to do with the things he sells to them.

They had varying answers. Some wanted them for forging combat accessories like armor and weapons. There were even ballistic and artillery improvements, where the flexibility of the Insect Metal was perfect for that. Meanwhile, Insect Cloth, Insect Leather, and Insect Thread are things the clothing industry could never get enough of, making them the most sought-after of all.

All Luke had to do was sit at the top of this pyramid.

Slowly, slowly, he might come to control this whole city, and even render the Duchy irrelevant by becoming the real power behind everything, whether anyone admitted it or not.

Currently, Luke was walking down the street to a meetup point with Lin Moon.

He was thinking about the everyday changes these dimensional items could bring to the world.

Many buildings will be touching the heavens. Cars and Trains will be faster. Ships could be lighter and cut through water with less drag. Roads may be crack-proof. Bridges may stretch from country to country and won’t collapse. Even farming tools may last seasons longer instead of wearing down every harvest.

Luke found himself on a busy, congested street.

These dimensional items will alleviate crowding like this.

But this crowding wasn’t because of poor amenities.

"It’s the Castellan!" someone in the crowd shouted. "Look at that horse!"

"That’s not a horse, you dolt, that’s a Unicorn."

A chariot in this part of the city wasn’t outlandish. Luke scoffed, his eyes landing on the Greater-Grade Oceanic Unicorn pulling it.

"Miquelon’s family," Luke said. "His father is Castellan of this part of the city."

Luke glanced at the unicorn’s armor, mostly around its forelimbs. Then, he glanced at Miquelon’s father too, scanning the armor he was wearing.

"Already?" Luke thought. The insect metal was already on the market, and the wealthy and powerful were the first to wear it. Miquelon’s family are an ostentatious set of people, so it wasn’t surprising they were the first. But still — this fast?

"Beep—beep—!"

HONK! HONK!

Luke glanced at a car honking at him. The back window rolled down, and it was Lin Moon, arrived at last.

In the car, Luke showed Lin Moon the money he’d made.

Money meant for the Workshop.

And as expected, Lin Moon was surprised.

Lin Moon thought after all the fuss, Luke would ask her to go back to Mr. Blackstone for more funds. From the looks of it, he’d never once planned to.

A castoff, disowned by his own family — how had he pulled together this much money, this fast?

Question after question. Luke wasn’t answering because he didn’t see why he should tell Lin Moon how his money comes.

"My Lord, what if what you’re doing can’t stand the light of day? Would I end up caught up in it too?"

"Ha, Miss Moon. I’m already unwelcome enough in this city as it is. Dirtying my own name further would just be foolish."

Lin Moon usually didn’t pry into other people’s business. But this was something she really wanted to know. Since Luke wouldn’t budge, she had no choice but to give up.

Soon, the car arrived at the mega workshop.

The workshop was nearing completion. All frameworks were erected, steel beams and pillars crisscrossed, conveyor belts and forging tables stretched out in rows, and mechanical arms hung in mid-air. In the corners, unassembled parts were piled up, sparks from welding flashing. Builders and their summons moved back and forth, too busy to stop.

"So?" Luke asked. "Twelve million — is that enough to fill our hole? How much short are we?"

"How fast you’re making this money, and how much of it, it doesn’t match up with how dire the capital situation was to begin with," Lin Moon said. "It’s thrown me off. I can’t quite get a clean read on whether it’s enough or not. But this is very good revenue, no question. Enough to keep everything running smoothly. Still, to be safe, we need at least forty million more. That’ll cover post-construction costs, and all the little things besides. After that, I don’t think you’ll need to reach into your pocket again."

Luke lifted his hand and counted his fingers in the form of days to calculate how many days might bring him that, and it wasn’t too far in his opinion.

After touring the near-completed workshop, Luke invited Lin Moon to lunch at the same coffee shop they’d visited before.

Lin Moon was a well-behaved, studious, and taciturn woman. Luke thought someone like her deserved a bit of gentlemanly attention now and then.

But he wanted to know who this workaholic woman was.

No Beast, no family name, and no relatives. It seemed the only thing that mattered to her was serving Blackstone. Who is she, really?

However, Lin Moon was just as private as he was too.

She preferred to talk about business.

She said: "Now, you don’t need to worry about clients and channels. The Blackstone Conglomerate has them. As you know, wherever Blackstone goes, an entire Order follows. Your workshop is like a ready-made, established brand."

Luke asked an unrelated question: "Within the Obsidian Order, have you ever heard of a Vampire Summon called Lucius?"

Lin Moon’s eyelids lifted slightly, but it was too fast that Luke never even caught it.

"You have business with him?"

"Just curious."

"An Order is an alliance of millions," Lin Moon said, setting her cup down, her tone balanced. "You can’t expect me to know every single one of them and their summons, can you?"

No tangible answer came from Lin Moon, so Luke rested his case.

Count Lucius wasn’t just any ordinary summon, so he ought to be well-known at least, but yes, Lin Moon can’t know everything either.

Meanwhile, someone else entered the coffee shop.

Dressed in Hunter gear, armor and all. A Hunter.

Scarlett Trump, a Mythical-rank Summoner, the nation’s heir.

Her red hair was hidden inside her helmet while her face was covered by the mask Luke forged for her a long time ago.

Scarlett saw Luke and Lin Moon sitting face-to-face, talking, and she frowned.

This looked like a date to her. Why not? The two of them appeared interested in what the other was saying. Two people, something between them. Besides, Lin Moon wasn’t bad-looking.

But that thought was her own mind scaring her.

Scarlett was on the verge of losing Luke because of the weight of family responsibilities, so everything she looked at now was photosynthesized by that fear.

Meanwhile, Luke possessed the best defense senses; hence, he detected Scarlett as somebody who was here to cause harm to him, Lin Moon, or both of them. So he summoned his gauntlet and put Lin Moon behind him.

Until Scarlett removed her mask, revealing her identity.

"My Lady," Lin Moon said because she recognized the president’s daughter. She was bowing slightly, just as surprised as Luke.

"Are you his mistress or is this a platonic relationship?" Scarlett asked, her jealousy undisguised.

As was customary, the woman blames the other woman, never the man.

Luke didn’t want Lin Moon getting troubled by anything that didn’t concern her, so he spared her the trouble.

Afterward, Luke got into the car Scarlett came to the coffee shop with, and they sped away.

Lin Moon watched the car disappear before getting into her own.

She was surprised about Lord Luke having ties with Scarlett Trump. They were supposed to be apart after a cancelled engagement, so whatever is going on is a strong bond. This is a very important matter to be brought to Mr. Blackstone.

Elsewhere, the Trump Estate....

Scarlett’s Butler, Constance, couldn’t keep Scarlett’s disappearance hidden for long.

Her absences from the dining table were too much, and missed family rituals were now too obvious to explain away. If Constance said nothing, the Trump family would come down on her for it because, as Scarlett’s Butler, there was no way she wouldn’t have known of Scarlett’s disappearance.

So she had no choice but to report it.

Scarlett’s aunt, Brienne, was livid when she heard.

Brienne was in the garden, watering red roses, and news arrived that her niece had fled, her whereabouts unknown.

She became so angry that she clenched her fist and all the flowers wilted.

Immediately, she stormed out to take action and bring her rebellious niece back home.