“Baroness Leila had sent this,” said Lola, and placed the file in front of me. I nodded and opened the file.

It is a file on the inventory of the monsters, or rather what becomes of them after we had sent it to her.

Leila acted fast, seeing the opportunity in the danger. She had set up a monster processing plant, in her territory.

Where the killed monsters would be cut, cleaned, sorted, and stored. To preserve the magic in them before selling them to the merchants.

It had been sixteen days since I had come back and since then; we have killed three hundred and seventeen monsters.

One hundred and twenty-two were killed by Blackwell’s people. All these monsters have gone to Blain for processing.

The sooner the monsters got processed; the more magic gets preserved. Especially in their blood and meat. The hide, horns, bones, and nails didn’t need to be preserved to keep the magic in them, but it was always better to do it.

Monsters are valuable, and these were pure monsters, not the beasts we use who have some monster blood.

Thankfully, the Count has agreed to let us have everything we get from selling the monsters.

The monster attacks increasing with higher numbers every day. Major Jarvis feels that there will be an attack without a doubt, and it will be soon.

We have made as many as preparations we could, but we could have done better, with a little more help.

Still, it is quite surprising that despite the monster threat. The trade hadn't slowed down. It had instead increased and now, every day, three caravans are coming to the town.

Which, in turn, made the merchants and nobles invest more heavily in town.

More stores, inns, warehouses, and other businesses are popping up in the town. The fourth tranche of plots sold like hotcakes three days ago and they wanted more.

The Count wanted me to sell all plots together, but I am selling them in steps, and every time, the rate of those plots would double at least; the last tranche gave a quadrupled rate.

70% of those plots sold are being developed; I am only selling to those who want to develop them.

There is only a small quota for people who are buying it as an investment.

The trade is increasing at a much faster rate than I thought. If it kept increasing at such speed, it would reach the needed amount, much sooner than I had thought, and I would be able to return to the Greltheaven.

The power is intoxicating, but I miss my business.

Even now, I want to go back to the city and see through every change that happening, and I might have gone. I had planned to make another trip in the middle of the month, but with this monster threat, I couldn’t go anywhere.

‘Master Silver. Miss Valentina is here,’ said Jill through the intercom. ‘Send her in,’ I replied.

Click!

The door opened, and she walked inside.

“How was the trip?” I asked. “It was good. I had mostly slept through the night,” she replied as she sat in front of me.

“You can take a rest if you want,” I said, to which she shook her head. “There is no need,” she replied.

“A lunch then?” I asked, to which she nodded.

I took her to the kitchen where we had lunch, before walking out of the keep and sitting on the carriage. It is an open carriage; it would be better suited for our job today.

It is a formality. The last inspection and she will be done.

The road is finished and also the extra work I had given to her consortium. Today, I will be checking the roads with her, before signing off on the progress.

I had already inspected the work, and this would be just a few hours of carriage ride in nice weather toward the boundary before coming back to the castle.

“The town is developing well,” she said as the carriage rode through the town. “It is. The trade is going well with the Oksall, and it is attracting more people and investments,” I said.

The town now has over seven hundred people as official residents.

“We are thinking about developing a quarry in Baron Wilson's territory,” she said softly while looking at the town.

“Is quantity big enough?” I asked. “We have done some tests; the amount of stone it is big enough to be worth the investment,” she replied.

“Then you should buy it. The way the trade is developing. The stone will be in high demand,” I gave my views.

“I have already made the proposal and will be sending it to headquarters. It will be up to them, whether to accept or not,” she said.

Soon, the carriage passed through the town and began to move through the wide paved road, with dense trees on both sides of us.

“How is the progress of establishment and circle?” I asked finally, to which she smiled.

“Going great; everything is on time,” she replied.

I sighed, and she shook her head.

“You know, there are tons of people in the city, who will not hesitate to kill you if it gets them your job,”

“The power you wield here is huge, more than any noble here, and you still pine for your business,” she said, and I smiled, but there was barely any mirth in it.

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“Yes, I have power here, but it is not mine. If the Count wished, he could take it away,”

“So, I would rather stay in the city and work on developing my business. That nobody could take away from me,” I replied, and to that, she smiled.

“I don’t think he will take it away. From what I have heard, the Count is mighty impressed with what you have done here,” she said.

This time, I didn’t reply. Only smiled.

I know the Count had found me valuable and would let me have the responsibility of this place for years. It is a very enticing thought, seeing the power, I wield and the freedom I have.

However, I still prefer the city.

Especially now, with the change happening in the establishment.

“You have done quite a good job on the road,” I praised, looking at the great road. “I should thank you for that, without you. A medium-level firm like mine wouldn’t have got such a contract,” she replied.

It was a wise decision to give her the contract; I have not only saved a lot of money but also got great quality work.

“You had the best bid,” I said, to which she smiled.

“Thanks to exposure, it got us. We have got the jobs around the baronies.” She spoke.

I knew that over ten baronies were availing the services of her firm. Forcing her to bring more men and have partnerships, with other firms to manage the workload.

“I am glad,” I replied.

For a few minutes, we didn’t speak and just enjoyed the silence and the beauty of the forest.

We were sitting in silence when we saw the lines of carriages coming toward us. It was a caravan from the merchant states.

There were twenty-six carriages in it, and they passed by us while we watched them.

“The trade from the Oksall is increasing faster than I had expected,” she said, looking at carriages passing. “It is all thanks to the road; more than half of which had already been finished. It made the trade easy,” I replied.

The merchants are working fast on the road at their end.

The terrain there is challenging and long is long, but they are making fast progress.

Within a month, a complete road will connect the Amberhold to the Mirador Hold.

It will be then, that the real trade will begin.

Ina had made several trips and talked to a lot of merchants. Many of them are just waiting for the road to be finished before they will start trading with Navr through this route.

I am feeling quite excited about it and hope, the monsters don’t play the spoilers. I want to finish with it as soon as possible and hand over, the responsibilities to others.

Two hours passed in conversation before the carriage stopped, and we got out of it.

We have reached the boundary of the empire, where our road ends and theirs starts.

“They seemed to have made a lot of progress since the last time I was here,” she said as she cut off the spell.

“The road had gone beyond the Fort Renin,” I replied.

The merchants are not making the road in a single direction. That would be inefficient; they are making on our side too. They have sent men here and brought the material from us.

It had earned many merchants, a massive amount of money. Including Valentina, she had sold quite a lot of things to them.

“This pla”

“Mister Silver, Code Red. The horde had been spotted coming out of the extreme magic region,” said Zela, interrupting what Valentina was saying.

As the words fell on my ears, I shook. My hands, which were petting Fang in my arms, stopped.

For a moment, the news froze me, before I was able to control my emotions, and turned to Zela.

“Send a message to all the baronies and ask Captain Hartley to lock the town down,” I said, before turning to Lola and handing Fang to her.

“Go to the Baron Homer's territory with Miss Valentina and stay there, till the horde is dealt with,” I said.

She took Fang with shaking hands and turned to me.

“What about you, Master Silver?” she asked, with her voice shaking lightly. “I am going to the Bram Valley,” I replied, and could see she wanted me to stop, but didn’t utter those words, seeing my expressions.

“Take care,” she said finally, and I nodded and turned to Valentina.

“Stay safe,” I said to her.

"I am coming with you,” she said, surprising me. “It is the monster horde, Valentina,” I said, and she smiled.

“I know they are dangerous. I used to be a mercenary before taking this job,” she replied.

I wanted to decline her, but seeing how much of a mage of her level will be helpful. I decided to accept her help.

“Fine,” I said, and turned to the guards, before sitting on the horse.

Soon, we are riding toward the Bram Valley. I am taking all the guards with me; along with my own guards, leaving only two with Lola to take her to Baron Homer’s castle.

The closest territory is from here, is of Baron Harrods and my sister’s, but those places are dangerous.

They will be the first target of a horde. If we didn’t stop, the monsters at Bram Valley.