Chapter 359: Threats and Opportunities

“Have some confidence in yourself, Winfred. You will do well,” I said to the nervous man in front of me.

He is a friend and vice-director of trade, responsible for the eastern side. The old position of mine, before I got promoted.

He is official and people like him, usually don’t get positions like these. These are reserved for powerful merchants or connected persons. It is how I and Damon Hardt had got it ours

The man is talented and an excellent negotiator, who never got the chance to shine. I have known him for over a year since I went to Navr. He was part of that trip and several others with me.

Though currently, he will handle the trilateral negotiations, we are having with baronies and mirador hold. It had been two weeks since the battle and they were coming to the city for the negotiation.

They do not want to go to the hold or the baronies. While the city is dangerous, they decided it is the best place to do the negotiations.

“Thank you for your trust, Lord Silver,” he said and bowed, before walking out of the door.

I won’t be the part of negotiations. I truly want to, but I need to delegate the responsibilities and trust that they will do the job.

‘Master Silver, your eleven am appointment is here,’ informed Jill. There were still fifteen minutes, but since I had time, I might as well meet him. He had been trying to meet me for three days, despite knowing the answer.

“Send him in,” I said and waited.

….

Yenrys

Click!

The doors opened the door, and I walked inside. I knew he was young, but still quite surprised seeing how young he was.

The information said that he is not even twenty. He is the youngest host of legacy in nearly two millennia.

It is why, I came here. If we got the opportunity to work on legacy, it would help us tremendously. Most importantly, helps us leave a mark on history. Master Nehdis wants it, and he is even willing to finance it all with his own money.

Though it is not the main reason, I had sought this appointment and had been in this dangerous city.

I had barely slept since I came here, whenever I closed my eyes. I had nightmares about the undead. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have come here, but Master Nehdis sent me and there was no questioning his orders.

“Lord Silver,” I greeted. “Take a seat, Mr. Yenrys,” he replied, offering me a seat in front of me.

“Thank you, my lord,” I said as I sat.

“What can I do for you, Mr. Yenrys?” he asked, looking directly into my eyes. His gaze intense, that I forgot I am sitting in front of a man less than half my age.

“I am working for Nehdis. The foremost architecture firm Belnin, which is being led by Master Nehdis, who is a step away from becoming a Grandmaster. We would be honered if you gave our firm a chance to build your legacy,”

“Our firm is willing to work free of charge and even foot the whole bill of the construction with Master Nehdis personally working on it,” I said and looked at him, hoping to see a smile, upon hearing this wonderful offer, but found his expression unchanged.

Master Nehdis is one of the best architects in the merchant state, on the entire continent. Lords and even kings wait for months and years for him to personally work on their projects, but here, he is offering his services on his own.

“You should have followed proper procedure, Mr. Yenrys. If you want your firm to be considered, you will have to contact my chief of the project,” he said with clear irritation present in his voice.

‘This bastard!’ I cursed internally.

Rarely anyone talked to me about such a tone, when I go with the name of Master Nehdis, but this little bastard is not only, not polite, but also got irritated with me.

“You might not be aware, but your chief of project is a big liar and thief. He had stolen the designs of Master Nehdis and when he got caught claimed them to be his,”

“He is not the person to trust, my lord,” I said.

It is for this reason; that Master Nehdis had sent me here. He would be angry if we didn’t get the project, but it would be unmanageable, if Amelius stayed on his job.

Others may see him as a criminal, but I know what he is. There is a reason, why he is made a criminal.

Master Nehdis would not have him work again. Especially, on legacy, which is an opportunity of ages. It is so big; I dream about it every waking moment.

“If I want the criminal history of my people, Mr. Yenrys. I will contact you,” he said, without change in his expressions.

“You should be careful who you hire, Lord Silver. Some people could make things difficult for you,” I threatened before I could even stop myself.

His expression finally changed. A smile appeared on his face.

“Inform your boss, that your firm is out of consideration for being a partner in building my legacy,” he said, and I opened my mouth with another threat, but closed it.

He is lord of a small city; such people wouldn’t dare to cross Master Nehdis, given his influence, but he is also Master of Legacy and it is not a normal legacy.

Those who have a legacy like him, won’t have a problem in taking their legacy to Grade III. If they live long enough, they have to good chance to take it to even Grade IV.

Such people are valuable and what makes him especially valuable now, is that he is semi-independent.

He has control over the emotion essence his legacy produces. A resource that everybody desires.

“Apologies, my lord. I had no intention of threatening you,” I said. If Master Nehdis came to know this, he would not leave me alive. It would have been fine if it had worked, but it is not, and he will not like that.

“Get out of my office,” he said, without even looking at me.

Rage flared in my heart, but I controlled it. I got up and walked out.

June was waiting outside; seeing my expression, she didn’t even ask me, just followed behind me quietly.

I am angry but also worried. Master Nehdis didn’t like failures, and he liked to blame others for them.

Hun!

I was walking, when suddenly, I stopped. I saw a person coming from the other side; a person I had not seen in years and never expected to see.

Once again, that feeling of inferiority rose in my heart, and feeling it, the anger burned brightly.

“It” said June, but stopped.

‘Edmor,’ I finished. He had also noticed me, and a small change appeared on his face, but he kept walking, talking with the old man and the woman.

Soon, there were barely a few meters of distance between us, but he didn’t even glance at me. He just walked past.

“Bastard!” I cursed.

People around me stopped and looked at me as if I am crazy, which once again anger to rise in my heart, but this time, I controlled it and walked away.

The next few days won’t be easy. I would need to be as calm as possible.

…

“These people are really something,” said Zela, as the half-elf left.

He is not the first one to come to come to me directly or threatened. There were a few more who did that and all of them were shown the door.

They and the firms behind them are powerful. Some of them could make things difficult, but not too difficult. If I had been only a lord of the city, I would have been a lot more careful in dealing with them, but I am also the host of legacy.

They won’t go too far with me.

Hours passed, and I met several people, including Edmor and Miss Rolgath, who reached the city, the day after I contacted her, while Miss Ulaxasys still hadn’t come after two weeks.

She had asked for time to delegate the prior commitments she had. She wants to come here without any worry about the other work.

I am not unreasonable. I like the woman and the work she had done, on the establishment before. This time it is a thousand times greater, and she is the best person for that.

Her firm is big, and my job was the smallest she had ever accepted in her life. Now, she has got the biggest job.

She is coming tomorrow, bringing her staff and a person whom she said, is just as good as her. I didn’t ask about that person; I will meet them tomorrow. I hope they are just as good as her.

She needs to do better than the best, for this opportunity of ages. If I didn’t like her work, I wouldn’t hesitate to replace her, no matter how much I liked her as the person.

Daily, I would get thousands of messages from the people who want to work on the legacy. I forwarded all those messages to Edmor, who was still in the process of selecting the partner.

It is not an easy thing and usually takes months, but I am asking him to select within weeks.

The establishment, needed to be ready within six months. Even the six months feel like a long time, but I cannot hurry them too much. It is not a simple tower, but a Grade III building.

I thought for a while about it before pushing those thoughts away and focusing on the work in front of me.

It was late afternoon when I finally got out of the city hall and sat in the carriage. It moved toward its destination, while I looked outside through the window.

Everywhere, I could see. I would see people working. The reconstruction had begun; the first phase tenders had been awarded, and it had been a week since they started working.

It seemed to give the people some comfort and also jobs as now, there are less than a hundred people leaving the city.

Our condition is much better than other cities. I heard Deerponds population had slid below half a million and it hadn’t even attacked.

They are trying different ways to stop people, but some of their ideas seem to make things worse than better.

They shouldn’t force people to stay. It is the worst thing one could do to stop, these kinds of things.

Soon, the carriage reached the wall and stopped.

I got out and climbed the stairs before reaching the top. On the other side, I saw scenery, that made a smile appear on my face and gave me confidence in the city.

In front of the city, an army is practicing.

A professional army of twenty-two thousand people, wearing black uniforms. Following one order after another, their superior is giving it to them.

It is an army smaller than we had gathered to fight the undead, but it is far more powerful than it and disciplined.

The army has humans, orcs, and people with blood of other races. They are together, following the orders. In a few weeks, they will fight united against the enemy that seeks to destroy us.

“They are learning to fight as one,” said Colonel Cardin beside me. “Let’s hope, they have time to become one before the enemies come for us,” I replied.

Just this morning, we received intelligence from the merchant states. They asked us to expect another attack, within a month. It could come within a week or four, even if they are not certain.

The only thing, they are certain, of is that the next attack will come within a month, and we will need to be prepared for it.

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