Count Darrow sat down in his chair and turned to me.
“Remus, this is Becker Carlos and Magnus Leblanc; they will be your assistants, and if you are satisfied with them, then your successors,”
“Train them well,” he instructed, introducing two people standing beside me.
“As you command, my lord,” I replied.
They came from Count’s territory and from what Robin had told me about them, both of them are good.
They were chosen by Count Darrow’s eldest son to be sent here.
“These are the files, right?” he asked, looking at the files in front of him. “Yes, my lord,” I replied, nodded, took the first file, and started reading it.
I have everything prepared for him. Including the files. Everything is written down perfectly, in a language that anyone would understand.
He started reading them, and every minute, he would ask a question and I would answer them.
“For the first and third bid. You have chosen the lowest and best bid. Why did you choose Thomson-Vilas for the second bid?”
“From what I could see here, there were many cheaper bids, offering the same quality as them,”
I smiled at hearing his question; I had expected this one.
“Because I wanted the work there to go smoothly; I don’t want to choose a company that Mirador Hold could bully and delay the work,” I replied directly.
“Good. Seeing some things here, I thought, you have become too idealistic and forgotten realities of the world,” he said to which I smiled.
He moved to the other files, reading much faster than what my reading skill gave me.
He is a noble, with a powerful ruling class. His skills and mine would be far apart, even if our classes were at the same level.
‘My lord, Major Jarvis is here,’ said the secretary through the intercom.
“Send him in,” he said, taking a pause from the reading.
Click!
A second later, the door opened, and Major Jarvis walked inside. I look at the man, who seems to have gotten springs in his legs.
It seemed like the mission had been successful.
“My lord,” He greeted and bowed.
“Jarvis caught any bandits?” asked the Count directly. “Yes, my lord. One hundred and sixty-seven on our side and one hundred and thirty-two from the other side,” he replied, surprising me, as well as the Count.
It seemed like; he was telling the truth about there being a large number of bandits.
“Were they planning the attack on the caravan to gather in such numbers?” asked the Count.
Bandit groups are small; even the big ones keep their units small. Gathering in large numbers, only when planning something big.
“No, my lord,” he replied, and the smile on his face disappeared and his expression became grave.
“They were attacked.” He added.
“Blackwell’s?” asked the Count, to which he shook his. “Monsters of the extreme magic region,” he replied, and immediately expressions on everyone’s faces changed.
The news is really as disturbing as he said.
“Were the bandits tried to hunt them?” asked the Count cautiously.
The bandits live closer to the extreme magic region; it is the best hiding place, where nobody dares to come for them.
“No, my lord. From what I can find out from bandits; there was a disturbance. In the extreme magic region, before they were attacked by the monsters,”
“The bandits I have caught belong to the three groups, with their numbers reaching over seven hundred, but less than half of them have been able to survive the monster attack,” he replied, shuddering.
He is scared. Hell, I am scared. The monsters of the extreme magic region, are dangerous beyond imagination.
They have razed the kingdoms within a single night.
There was a silence, but I am sure the Count had been cursing in his heart like I am doing right now.
“Was the disturbance being sudden or was building?” he asked after nearly a minute of silence.
“It was not sudden; they had been hearing disturbance for the past few days before the attack happened,” he replied, turning the expressions on both our faces worse.
If it had been an instant, then it would have been worrying, but not much.
Prolong disturbance and then attack are not good. It means various things, but one of the worst is that a new monster lord had appeared, and the disturbance was about that.
If this was the case, then we might be in danger.
A new monster lord could sense the horde of monsters toward us as a show of power.
It has happened multiple times in past centuries. One time, a few hundred years ago, they destroyed all the settlements that used to exist in the Nakar forest.
“Jarvis, keep a tight lid on this news; I don’t want it to leak away and find out more about it.”
“I will message Dane and ask him to send a team of scouts and a battalion of soldiers; Until then, ask your scouts to keep a sharp eye on things,” ordered the Count.
“Yes, my lord,” he replied.
“Beaumont, send a message to Blackwell and tell him I will meet him in Blain about these circumstances,” he said to the mage standing behind him.
She nodded and closed her eyes.
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“He agreed, my lord,” she replied.
“It seemed like the success won’t be without obstacles, Remus,” he said, turning to me. “There are always challenges, my lord. We will just need to face them,” I replied.
It might be a one-off incident; things like this happen, but we will need to be careful.
“We have invested too much here to back down. If monsters attack, then we will deal with them,” he replied.
I could only nod while controlling myself not to curse at him.
If the monster attacks, he will be the first to run away, like his son did.
Major Jarvis left and the Count continued with the files, finishing an hour later.
“You have done a very good job, Remus,” he said as he closed the last file. “Thank you, my lord,” I replied.
“So, what are you planning to do with the rest of the money that remained in the construction fund?” he asked.
I smiled and rolled out two papers on the table. One is about the castle town, and one is about Mirador Hold.
He didn’t say anything for a few minutes, just kept looking at them.
“It is ambitious,” he said finally.
“I believe it is necessary, my lord. The trade is going to take off and we need to be ready for it; lagging would be our greatest mistake,” I stated.
I genuinely believe in this trade and want it to succeed. Its success will be my success; the reputation boost I will get from it will help me tremendously.
“Fine, I will not stop you,” he said, and I felt relieved.
For a moment, I thought he would take some funds or divert them somewhere, but thankfully he was not doing it. Even he could see the amazing work I have done so far.
The first shipment had come today, and the second was leaving the Amberhold by tomorrow.
The goods that came today will stay for a day and leave for the Mirador Hold tomorrow. The small amount of goods that will stay here will be sold to the nobles and businesses they have tied to.
According to the agreement, the goods will be sold to the Nakar baronies, which is fine, as most of the barons are merchants.
They will keep what they need and sell the rest. That is why many merchants from Greltheaven are coming here in the next few days.
Many nobles and merchants have brought the plots, and some started building, with my sister being the most aggressive one. The consortium she is leading with three other nobles is responsible fourth of private construction.
She is betting big, and she will succeed. I only hope the monsters don’t attack and spoil it all.
Fifteen minutes later, I walked out office, with Count going to his suit to rest.
We have to leave for the Blain in a few hours for the accession ceremony of my sister.
“Gentlemen, this is your office; I have placed all the information you need to know about your desk. If you have any questions, you can ask it, Lola,” I said as I led them into a room.
This room had three desks, two for them, and one for Lola; they will work with her and also keep an eye on them to gauge their abilities.
This is my baby. I have conceived it and worked hard to sort of take it this far.
One of these two men will take my place in a few months, and I want them to be capable; I don’t want them to mess with what I have built.
I talked to them for a few minutes before walking into my temporary office. I can’t work in the old one, since the Count is occupying it.
It had a simple desk, chair, and shelf, which was more than enough for me.
I have some work to do now that the Count has approved what I have done.
It is about the work on the castle. I am going to build a dedicated office space, which will have offices conference rooms, and other things that a modern administrative place needs.
It will take more area of the keep and will need to shift some barracks out, which wouldn’t have been a problem, but now it could.
The disturbance of extreme magic regions could create complications. I will talk to Major Jarvis after the Count leaves, before starting any changes in the castle.
I worked for three hours before I went to my suite. I showered and changed before walking out.
An hour later, I was in the carriage with Count Darrow, which was moving toward Blain.
Aside from Mage Beaumont, we are only two in the carriage.
Major Jarvis and a company of soldiers are around the carriage, protecting it from all sides. The Count didn’t want to take any risk and I am glad he didn’t; I liked to be safe, too.
“The widening of the roads will begin in the last stage, right?” he asked.
“Yes, my lord. First, they will connect our boundary and Mirador Hold with a completely paved road, before starting with widening of this old road,” I replied.
“They are moving fast, but I hope they are not compromising on quality, or we will become a laughingstock to those merchants,” he said, looking at me seriously.
“I am personally overseeing everything, including the quality checks.”
“I will not let anything happen. That could besmirch the reputation of our city, my lord,” I replied.
“I know you will not, Remus,” he said and once again, turned to the window.