“Mr. Silver, wake up,” said a gentle voice.

I immediately opened my eyes and saw that it was still dark.

“We are a few minutes away from the mirador hold,” informed Zela. I nodded and straightened myself before looking out of the window.

I could see the grand silhouette of the mirador holding in the distance. Lights on the massive fortress are shining through the dark; illuminating it, like a moon in a night's sky.

Even after seeing it, so many times. It still amazes me.

It also horrifies me, when I remember, how many times the hordes of Navr break through it. When its walls were heavily enchanted and had ten times more men defending it.

Now, they are just fixed, with barely a single layer of enchantment, and have men that might not stand again, even a single wave of the grand horde.

The carriage moved quickly toward it through the paved road and power of the skills.

The sun hadn’t come out yet, but it will be in half an hour.

We had reached pretty quickly and would have been reached even more quickly if the whole road was paved, but only one from Nakar baronies was. The rest, toward the city, was a dirt road.

A well-maintained one, but still a dirt road.

The carriage went inside through the massive door of the castle, before stopping.

Click!

“Welcome to Mirador Hold, Adviser,” said the man in his mid-fifties, with the sandy brown hair. “Thank you, Major Dicken,” I replied and got out of the carriage.

“How was your journey? Did you face any problems?” he asked. “Thankfully, not; the assassins seemed to be too busy to target me,” I replied, bringing out a small smile on his face.

“You don’t have to worry about them anymore, Adviser. You are in the Mirador Hold now, no assassin will dare to attack you here,” he said, while I just looked at him.

The man seemed to feel some embarrassment as his cheeks reddened a little.

Both of us hadn’t forgotten what happened a year ago and, I am sure, Viscount Atre and his men hadn’t either.

We talked as he took me toward my accommodations.

Click!

“At eight-fifteen, I will come to receive your breakfast meeting with the commander Dane,” he informed and walked away, while I had stepped into my suit.

I didn’t stay in the suit for long. Fifteen minutes later, I walked out of the suit, wearing practice clothes.

It is a great place to train against people of varying skills and great experience. Today’s session is quite important. I had spent the attribute points and I want to get used to them and there is nothing like sparring. That will help with that.

Soon, I reached the area, and within a minute; I had an opponent.

It is not the first time I have come to the Mirador Hold. Every time I came here; I spar with the people.

I sparred for one and a half hours, before walking back into my suit. There, I showered and changed into the new suit, and waited for Dicken.

He didn’t take long; at exactly eight fifteen, he knocked on my door.

“Commander Dane,” I greeted the man as I entered the room.

He was sitting in a beautiful room, which provided a complete back view. If one concentrates enough, one could even see the verdant hills in the distance.

“Adviser, come take a seat,” he said and offered me a seat. “Thank you, commander,” I thanked and took a seat.

“Congratulations on your promotion. I hope it will make the relationship between the city and hold, more productive,” he said.

The man is equating the hold and city as the same when they are not. He is a subservient to the lord of Greltheaven. However, he didn’t like when one pointed it out and I am not going to do that as well.

“Thank you, Commander,” I replied and took out the letter from my bag; seeing that, his eyes lit up.

“Count Darrow had asked me to give you this, Commander,” I said, handing him the letter.

To my surprise, he tore it open in front of me and began to read it. There was a frown on his face first before his eyes lit up.

After he finished reading the letter, he placed it on the table and looked at the butler, standing at a distance. The butler left, before coming out with two maids and the breakfast.

“Adviser, I am still waiting for those facilities I told you about. My men need them for effect battle readiness against the undead,” he said, as we started eating breakfast.

“I have relayed your concerns to the Count, Commander,” I replied simply.

“I have you have some budget, adviser; share a little of that with us,” he said, while I shook my head.

“Unfortunately, it is strictly for trade infrastructure. I cannot use it for any other things.” “Besides, the measly budget I have was not enough for the facilities you want to build,” I replied.

“It is why I want you to convince the Count.”

“You have fought against the undead; you should realize how tough it is to deal with them. We need to be ready to deal with any unexpected attack and those facilities will help us in a big way,” he pressed.

“I understand, Commander, but there is nothing I could do other than relay your request to the Count,” I replied.

He nodded and sighed.

The rest of breakfast continued without much conversation. We talked, but not a lot and the things we talked about were inconsequential.

Soon, we finished with the breakfast, and the maids cleared the table.

“I had heard you have been targeted by the assassins by coast?” he asked. “Yes, it was a nasty battle, and we have lost some good people,” I said, feeling sorrow for the deaths it had caused.

“It said there were two Lv. 30+, including a High Mage?” he asked. “Yes; I have barely survived,” I replied, and his eyes twinkled.

“I have read the reports and I have to say, you have hit the goldmine, Adviser. A Giant-blood in the process of awakening and a Mage, who could keep the Great Mage occupied. Such people are extremely rare,” he said and didn’t even hide his greed.

It seemed like everyone had read the report and was now trying to poach my guards.

Count Darrow is trying, as well as many other people in the city. Even people from the merchant states are trying. They have not accepted it and assured me won’t do it, but reminded me, that I will also need to show my sincerity.

Their contract ends in two months, and I am already preparing a huge offer; it is the least I can do.

I mean, if they wanted to, they could have broken off the contract and gone to those who were willing to offer them huge money. More than I could even in my final offer, but they are staying.

“I am lucky,” I replied, and now, this bastard would also make an offer.

He opened his mouth to say something but stopped and closed it before opening it again.

“They have arrived,” he said. I didn’t have to ask him who had arrived and turned to the widow, but I didn’t see anyone and turned back to him.

“They have crossed the boundary of the empire; it will take them some time, to enter the hold,” he added.

Stolen novel; please report.

A few minutes later, the meeting ended.

I didn’t go back to my suit and instead went on the tour of the warehouses and other things we had built.

Every month, we are building new warehouses to support increasing trade. It is not like a lauryl town, where we have started to let private players do the things. This is a military facility. Here we can’t do that.

Aside from warehouses, we have also built many other things. Like this big guesthouse, which is exclusively for the merchants. It took some convincing before the Count agreed, but it was the best decision.

It is always booked and also increased the trade.

The Count also understood that. He had permitted its expansion, without much convincing.

Finally, the gates opened, and the carriages strode in, before stopping not far away from me.

Merchants, with weary faces but bright smiles, started to come out of the carriages.

It is clear from their expressions that the trip went very well for them. I am also happy; I have also earned quite a bit of money, thanks to them.

These people belong to the seven cities that I had negotiated a few days ago.

Seeing this, a big smile appeared on my face. I had worked hard for a year to make it happen and now it did; they had the first trip to Navr, and they will not stop.

They might detest undead, but they will buy their goods. It is too irresistible with the rates they offer, and it will become even more resistible once the conflict begins.

It is not just the merchants in there, but also people like Javier Ronda, who is also smiling, but when he looked at me, the smile vanished, and anger appeared on his face.

It surprised me, but I only looked for a second before I turned to the person who appeared next to me.

“Master Silver,” greeted Ina.

I opened my mouth to ask her about her trip when I noticed her expression. At one glance, they seemed normal, but I know her enough to tell. Something is wrong.

“What happened?” I asked her. “Nothing,” she replied immediately, which made me even sure something had happened.

So, I kept looking at her.

“It was a small thing. It was not something I hadn’t experienced in my life,” she replied with a mirthless smile.

Now, I knew it was something big and turned to the man behind him.

“Hugo?” I asked, activating Privacy Dome. He looked at her, before turning to me. “That Javier Ronda had tried to force himself on Ina,” he replied, and my body shook, and rage, that I rarely feel burned in my heart.

“Exactly what happened?” I asked slowly. I didn’t ask that to Hugo, but to Ina.

She didn’t say anything for several seconds before opening her mouth.

“He had been making advances since the trip began, but never crossed the line, till yesterday.”

“It was an hour before leaving when he knocked on my door and entered inside without being invited and forced himself on me,” “If not for Hugo and others, arriving rightly, he might have”

She was so shaking, by the end that she couldn’t even finish the sentence. Thankfully, Varza was beside me and hugged Ina, which seemed to help her.

It had been nearly a year since I had given her this responsibility, and many people made advances on her, more than I could count, but no one had crossed the line.

Javier Ronda did, and he is quite infamous for that. Maeve had left Deerpond because of him, and she was the lucky one. Many other women were not.

Still, nothing happened to him, because of his father.

It took me a few seconds to control myself and looked toward Javier Ronda, only to see him coming toward me, with an old man in his early sixties.

The old man is Irvin Hewett; head of Deerpond’s delegation.

“Master Silver, don’t do anything,” said Ina, as if feeling I might do something. “Don’t worry,” I said with a smile and turned to Javier Ronda, who had stopped beside me.

“Silver, this filthy whore of yours has some gal,” he said, with anger blazing in his eyes.

“I had just heard what happened. Can we talk in some privacy?” I asked gently, motioning toward the guard station.

He opened his mouth, but the old man beside him cut him quickly.

“Privacy is good, adviser,” replied the old man. The young man glared, but followed me toward the guard station.

We entered the guard station, where three guards were sitting.

“Gentlemen, could you give us some privacy?” I asked them. One was shaking his head, but the man with the mustache cut him off “It won't be a problem, adviser,” he replied and walked out of the room with others and closed the doors behind him.

“Bang!”

“As I was saying, your wh” his voice cut off and alarm flashed in his eyes, as I swiftly grabbed his neck and pushed him hard against the wall.

It caught everyone by surprise and some gasped audibly.

His guards reacted quickly, but before they could even take a step forward, Stone, Jon, and Hugo appeared in front of them, while Zela covered us, in a watery dome.

Bam Bam Ban

“Y” he spoke, but before he could finish the word, I punched his stomach several times till spit flew out of his mouth, before kicking his groin hard with my knee, bringing tears to his eyes.

“Adviser, please cease what you are doing. You won’t like, the consequences of what will happen next,” warned the old man.

Bam Bam Bam

Instead of replying, I punched Ronda again while not letting him breathe. He tried to resist and even used skills, but they were not enough to get him out of my hold.

“Touch my people again and I will carve you bloody next time,” I said and let go of him. He fell down and started breathing heavily while holding his stomach tight.

I didn’t use my skills, but I didn’t hold back my strength either.

“You will pay for this, silver,” he threatened breathlessly as I opened the door. “I will be waiting,” I replied and got out, with others following behind me.

“His father won’t like it,” said Ina, looking very worried, but there was also a spark of joy in her teary eyes.

"I will be fine,” I replied.

His father could create some trouble, but I will handle it. No one touches my people and gets away with it.

A few punches aren’t enough, but doing more is not wise. There will be a day when I will have enough power and that will be a day when I give the bastard the punishment he deserves.

A few minutes later, Javier Ronda came out of the guard station, and he didn’t look like, he was beaten a few minutes ago.

He is angry, but there is also fear in his eyes.

I smiled at him, making him look away.

The day passed as I mingled with merchants and at night left for the Lauryl Tower.

I will be taking Ina back to Greltheaven despite her insistence on going to the merchant state. She had suffered something truly horrible, and I won’t let her work in such a state.

She will come home and spend some time with people who came about; it will help her process the trauma she had suffered.

Masterful Administrator Lv. 22