Chapter 158: First Step

“… and we will be adding another group of men in the coming week. We want to finish the construction by the end of the next. So, we could focus on the delicate work,” said Chief Architect Davidson.

I have come to the next plot to see the progress of the construction. It is going great, faster; it had already taken its round shape, and they had nearly finished up with the second floor.

Not to mention, a lot more work had been done underground.

In the middle, the construction of the spa had already been halfway done, but it is hard to associate it with its design. It looked a lot different and will, till they fit the glass.

There is a lot of glass involved in this building.

Hun!

I was talking to him when the familiar carriage pulled inside through the entrance. A few seconds later, Valentina walked out of it, wearing a blue mage robe, which she rarely wore.

“I had a meeting in a mage guild before I came here,” she said, seeing me looking at her robe.

“What do you think?” she asked, turning to the construction. “It is great. Chief here said, everything is going accounting to a new schedule,” I said.

The new schedule is a five-month timeline. Instead of the old months, she had given me.

“Not if you keep adding things,” she said, and I smiled. I called her about the new changes, which are going to cost me a lot. More than fifty million, I had paid her a few days ago.

When I started, I knew it is going to go over budget, but didn’t expect this.

It had already doubled in budget and will increase even further.

“Let’s go see inside.” She said, and we walked toward the building. On the way, a ring on her finger had lit up and a defensive layer appeared around our bodies.

Which is good. If something fell from above, I don’t think I would be able to survive it.

“We have brought all the materials we needed for the constructions, at least for the shell and our enchanters working non-stop,”

“Chief might have already told you. We plan to finish all the floors, by the first week of next month. The rest of the time will be spent on doing the delicate work,” he asked and turned to me.

“You have a month to make any big changes; after that, doing that will only increase the time,” she added.

“Chief Davidson had told me,” I said. She nodded and led me ahead, informing me about what they were doing.

I am listening to everything while marveling at the work they are doing. The people with the skills. It is amazing to watch and now, even the old man had added some of his skill to it.

It seemed to have increased the speed of men working and also make their work more precise while reducing their mistakes.

To these people, it is all normal, but to me, it is marvelous, despite watching them work daily. Half an hour later, we walked out of the building and went to the establishment.

“It is not a simple change; it might even affect the timeline of the project,” Valentina said after I laid out the changes I want.

“I am aware, and I won’t mind if the end date gets pushed a little back,” I said. I will not like it, but I also know, I can’t hope to get everything done on time, with my increasing demands.

“A couple of more changes and it will be a Grade 1 mage suit,” she said, and I snorted.

“A couple of changes, which will cost me over ten million imperials,” I said. A Grade 1 mage suit is the lowest grade of mage suit, and any kind of it would cost me more than a billion crowns.

It is not something. I haven’t thought about it, but something I couldn’t afford. Though one day, I will.

“This is to get you started,” I said and forwarded it to her. She took it and a faint surprise appeared in her eyes; she hadn’t expected, I would pay her 50% of the new changes upfront.

The new changes would cost me one hundred and fourth-million crowns, and I had just paid her seventy million crowns.

I have nearly emptied all the savings and what I had earned in the past week.

I now have less than a million crowns in my account, but I am not worried about money. The establishment will earn more today and, most importantly, Ina will come tomorrow, bringing the goods.

The merchants will clear their dues in a day or two, giving me around a hundred million crowns.

This time, orders have reached 700 million crowns, double that the last time, and with my 15%, I will get a little over a hundred million crowns.

Navr is a gold mine for me. This order is small, compared to the ones that will come in the future. As it has come from the city only and this week, I have many inquiries from outside the city as well.

If I am lucky, next time, I will have an order from a merchant outside the city.

“Oh, I hope you will finish the kitchen soon,” I said, reminding her of the thing we had discussed while coming to the office.

“It will be done within ten days,” she replied.

…

I watched Valentina’s carriage leave through the window and walked out of my office with Carla, Margaux, and Della.

Since she had become a true assistant madam; she will be attending all the meetings. It won’t take long for others to join. If possible, I want to relieve two of them from their jobs by the end of the month.

The girls are doing well, and many are leveling up fast.

I have already got over fifty girls over Lv. 20 and that number is increasing every week. I am sure some girls would soon reach the Lv. 25; Carla and Margaux wouldn’t be two alone at that level.

Soon, we were in the kitchen, and it was amazing, as always.

Drev spent most of his time in the kitchen; going home only to sleep and shower. He is working on the recipes, perfecting them since I had allocated a big budget to the kitchen.

“Drev, someone from the Nielson guild to come to meet you, in an hour,” I informed him, as I finished with lunch.

His eyes lit up at hearing that.

“Are you making changes to the kitchen, Mr. Silver?” he asked.

“Yes, that and something more,” I replied, and I could see he wanted to ask more, but I smiled and walked away. He will have answers to his questions when people from the Nielson guild come.

I am making changes to the kitchen, but also making a new kitchen. It will be separate from the establishment. So, even if it burned down, nothing else will be harmed.

The new kitchen will be for teaching and experimentation, with many safety features. It is costing me quite a lot, but it is worth it, seeing how it had been winning me praises and bringing the business.

There are many people who praised the food of the establishment, especially the fusion dishes.

I had even printed articles about it. They didn’t name the establishment, but those reading it would easily understand, they are about the establishment.

Carriages would enter, even before the gates could fully open. Just so the people could get into the prime tables.

Only from there, one could order the fusion dishes.

It had unintentionally increased the exclusivity of the establishment, and I want to make full use of that.

I am not the only one. I heard Normal also searching for a fusion chef. It won’t take him long to find a good one, considering the resources and the reach he has.

He had tried to poach mine, but till now had been unsuccessful.

After finishing the business in the establishment, I sat in my carriage, and it rolled toward the manor. Twenty minutes later, the carriage entered the gates of the manor before stopping.

I didn’t go to my suite and instead went to the changing room directly and changed into the training clothes, before going into the garden.

When I walked into the garden, was Fang, sitting on a tree, while two guards keep an eye on him.

Eli is not present. He had taken two days of leave and had gone outside to train his sparrow.

The airspace above the city is restricted and while I have taken permission for him to practice above the non-restricted areas in the city; he said, he wants unrestricted space to train his bird.

The guards retreated as I appeared by a tree; Fang glanced at me lazily before closing his eyes.

He remains free in the day with Eli or guards keeping an eye on him, while remains in pen at night.

“Come down, Fang,” I said to him, but he didn’t even open my eyes. “You want this, right?” I asked him as I took about a piece of dried meat.

He immediately opened his eyes to see the treat, but unlike the first day, he didn’t leap at it instantly.

For a couple of seconds, he kept looking before leaping at me. He became faster in the week, despite there being no change in his size.

I moved my hands to catch it and like the past few days; he tried to maneuver in the air.

Trying to avoid my hands and taking the piece of meat from my hand.

When he did that three days ago; he succeeded in taking a piece of meat from my hand and even drew blood with those nails, which turn sharp despite the constant fining.

Little monster may have surprised me once, but never again.

My hands moved around him fast, but smoothly, avoiding his nails and a little mouth, before grabbing him smoothly and putting him down.

“You know, Fang, you don’t have to be stubborn; just follow the simple command and you will get the treat,” I said while the little monster just looked, staring at my fist, which had a treat.

“Sit,” I said to him and opened my fist.

He didn’t even react, he just kept looking at it and I prepared myself for the leap.

“Sit,” I repeated, and there was no change. I repeated three seconds later and did it again three seconds after that.

“Sit!” I said at fifth ready, ready for his leap as he was reaching his limit when suddenly, he sat down, and it is perfect sit.

I was so surprised that I wasn’t able to react for a moment.

It is the first time he has listened to my command. I had told him many times about how to sit, but never followed the command.

“Good boy,” I praised and fed him the treat, careful of his very sharp teeth.

He ate it quickly, crunching the hard meat effortlessly with his tiny sharp teeth, before swallowing it.

“Now, we will try again,” I said and took out another piece of meat, and waited till he got up.

“Sit,” I said, and he sat down immediately.

For the next few minutes, he followed every sit command without any miss. Even the smartest dogs would miss it a few times and even monsters one or two times, but he got it perfectly.

I trained him for twenty minutes and took a break.

The break is necessary, even in monster training. Like dogs, monsters get irritated, and one needs time to get them to relax.

A half an hour later, I resumed his training and, once again; he started to follow the commands perfectly. Though, this time, I had changed the technique a little.

Now, I am not giving him a treat at every successful command.

“Growl!”

He growled, seeing me not giving a treat, but I smiled, but next time, he followed the command, and I gave him the treat.

I took a break for half an hour before training him again and like before; he followed every command accurately, with his growling lessened.

Soon, it was six, and I finally stopped. I am a little tired, training the monster is exhaustive, but there is a smile on my face.

I have taken the first step in the obedience training. While the monster is stubborn, he is very intelligent. If he learned the other commands the same way, I should have basic obedience done in a month.

For most dogs, it is enough. Over 95% of dog owners are satisfied with it, but it is not the case with monsters.

Especially not with mutts with level 3 aberration factor. His real training will start after he finishes with basic obedience training.

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