City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Proofread by Thomas F

Archmage Tower

An old man is sitting on the floor with his eyes closed in a large room bereft of any decoration.

He was deep in meditation when, suddenly, he opened his eyes in surprise. Given his position, there are very few things that could surprise him, but this one did.

“It is advancing,” he said.

“Surprising, isn’t it?” asked the young handsome man with a smile.

“It seemed like you were right. It’s a legacy of swallowing visions. Swallowing others is its strength rather than a weakness,” he replied before sighing.

He doesn’t like such legacies because they entice other legacies to follow a similar path, ultimately destroying their future.

“The title, when are you going to announce it?” asked the young man after a moment of silence. Every master of the throne gets a title from the Archmage Tower, which becomes their official synod title.

“At usual time,” he replied. In the morning, tomorrow, since the morning has already passed today.

“You know, that title is sitting empty.” The young man said, surprising the old man. Getting surprised twice in a minute is a record for him.

Though, when thinking about it, he nearly fits the criteria for it.

Though all the others who received this title had different types of legacies from him.

“We didn’t give it to anyone in this era,” he added.

“You think he deserves it. Most importantly, will the others agree to it?” the old man asked back. Everyone agrees with the conventional title, but not this one.

“Then let’s wait till the undead come,” replied the young man, and the old man nodded.

If he can deal with them, he will meet the criteria and they will grant him that title; if he does not, they will still grant him a title, as they do for every master of Grade IV.

“Find out the trigger? It’s always dramatic with such advancements,” ordered the old man. “Already did and it’s more dramatic than you can imagine,” replied the young man.

…

Deerpond

“We need the army ready to react fast after the undead conquer Greltheaven,” I said to the top brass of the army sitting in front of me.

There are now fewer than three days before the undead attack, and we need to be ready for it.

“According to the intelligence that the merchants had provided us before they signed the contract. The undead will move immediately after conquering Greltheaven.”

“They plan to move with even greater momentum than when they attacked the region for the first time. Wanting to conquer the whole region in less than a week,” stated my General.

I nodded. I had read it over and over, despite it filling me with dread.

“So, if they move toward us after conquering Greltheaven, we will move our forces to Riverbell.”

“The best scenario we could hope for is them attacking Marquess Grimvale, instead of following us to Riverbell. If they did follow, then we will retreat from Riverbell and muster with Marquess’s forces,” he informed the plan.

I don’t like abandoning the city and the people, but I know it’s the only choice I have.

It will be bad if they turn my people into undead, but I could get new people as long as I was able to reconquer the territory.

“It’s the best plan we cou..”

I suddenly stopped as I sensed something enveloping the city.

“My lord?” asked General Silva, and I could feel his skills activating, but he didn’t sense it. It is only when he had activated his aura that he sensed it.

Something was happening, and for a while, I was unable to understand what was going on at all. This content belongs to Nov3lFre.et

“Emotion harvest!” I called out suddenly as I realised something. “Necromancer?” asked Ronda in alarm, with his aura activating.

“It’s too vast. It had covered the city, the river, and our whole territory,” I replied, and realization appeared on his face.

“Legacy,” said General Silva, and I nodded, with my expression turning somber.

“Where?” he asked a moment later. “Northeast,” I replied with a bad expression. “It can’t be!” gasped Ronda, but it is the truth; it’s coming from Greltheaven.

…

Inam

“How sure are we?” I asked my mage slowly, with my heart beating like a drum. If this news is trustworthy, it could have massive consequences for me and my city.

“Lord of Deerpond is confirming it. So, is the council head Husk, along with a couple more nobles of the Nakar Baronies,” replied the mage.

“I had sent the enquiries to Archmage Tower, but there is no reply from them,” he added.

“What about old Vanis?” I asked. “He won’t be able to confirm it until it becomes a throne. He said, It won’t take more than a minute,” replied the mage.

“Inform me, the moment you get the confirmation,” I ordered. “Yes, my lord,” he replied and bowed before walking back.

I turned to the people in front of me: my wife, my son, my daughter-in-law, and my little granddaughter. We were having dinner when the mage interrupted with the news.

“If it is really turning into the throne, then we have hope,” said my son, but my daughter-in-law shook her head.

“If it is true, which I very much doubt. What kind of special Legacy is Velvet Garden? They would never make a legacy like Vanis Tavern a subject, which is barely an average one,” she replied, pessimistic as ever to my optimistic son.

Sometimes they felt like they were the perfect match, but at other times, they felt like the worst possible match.

“If it’s true. Then it’s the only opportunity we will have,” said my wife, wisely as ever. I nodded, Vanis’s legacy has barely a month or even less before it enters waning.

Once that happens, the process of dying will begin. The output of the emotional essence will start decreasing and its effects will become weaker, before it finally takes its last breath with its master.

It is worse for me as I had signed a powerful contract. I need to provide them a fixed amount of emotional essence for a decade, which is more than half of what Vanis’s Tavern produces.

It will produce more this month, thanks to the merger, which made it more powerful. However, once the waning begins, the output will decrease.

In a few years, it will decrease enough that I will have to provide them everything the legacy produces, if Vanis didn’t die by then.

If he did, and I wasn’t able to meet my obligation of the essence. I will have to pay a hefty penalty, which I am unwilling to do.

“If Velvet Garden becomes a throne legacy, then I will try everything to make Vanis Tavern a pawn of Velvet Garden,” I stated.

Vanis Tavern is vital for my survival. On the outside, it might seem like I am safe, but far from it. The emotional essence provides leverage over others, and the legacy itself helps the city economically by attracting tourists and businesses.

If it dies, then all those things will start to collapse.

…

Transcendent Pleasure

The graph changed, and another one appeared, with all eyes falling on it.

It’s our big annual meeting, where all my lieutenants gather from across the region. We review the books and make the big decisions.

For the first time in three years, there are two new additions.

“As you can all see, this year as well our revenues are down in Oksall and Nereim.”

“We are only able to make a profit of 12%, which is even less than last year, with our expenses ballooning past the expectations,” I said, looking at Chesynin and Matina.

These two are responsible for those two regions. They looked down, feeling my gaze; they should feel ashamed, especially after I had given them a year to fix it. Instead, they made things worse.

I am going to remove them from the position.

I had sweated and bled to create this business empire, and I will not accept the mediocre result.

I already know the person I am replacing them with. I am going to hand her both regions, with over a hundred brothels.

It’s a massive responsibility; she had done nothing of this scale before, but I want to take that risk with her, after what I had spent in getting her.

“Madam, I had done well. It’s the increase in taxes that brought down profits,” replied Chesenyn and wiped away the sweat on his forehead.

I wanted to curse him. Instead, I just kept looking at him, making the man shrink in his seat.

Yes, an increase in taxes had affected things, but not as much as this man is trying to make them out to be.

Knock Knock!

“Madam, it’s because” Maina was replying when a knock rang out at my door. Everybody stopped when they heard it, including Maina.

This meeting is fully sealed. I had sealed communication and gave strict orders to the guards not to disturb me unless it was an emergency.

Click!

I looked at the door and it opened. Zamira, the guardian, walked inside.

She is not a friend, guardians never are, but she is the one I had the best relationship with of all the guardians that my legacy has had.

“It’s better to be important, Lady Zamira,” I said to her. “Oh, it is my dear, Lady Gynrieth,” she replied, with that particular smile on her face that I don’t like.

I wanted to ask her, but I just looked at her. It will take some time, but she will let us know.

To my surprise, she opened her mouth a moment later.

“Velvet Garden is advancing to the throne,” she informed. Shocking me and everyone.

“Impossible! I would have sensed it if it did,” I refuted. Advancement to a throne couldn’t be hidden. I would sense it.

“I said advancing, not advanced.” She replied. “Many surrounding lords of cities are sensing the emotion absorption from their cities as we speak,” she added, and my heart skipped a beat.

“Cities?” I asked a moment later.

“It’s a wasteland. It’s not Belnin, a little city like Greltheaven couldn’t provide the emotions the throne needs for advancing,” she replied, but the frown on my face became bigger.

Yes, the presence spreads if there is not enough emotional essence, but there is a limit to it, and she said cities.

Even if its presence spread to the two closest cities to it, it would still be a massive area. It would nearly break the records of those advancing into thrones, made by those damn arenas!

Presences do not spread just when there is a lack of emotions. They dig deeper or take emotions directly from people, which is their last option.

I didn’t speak, nor did Zarina or anyone else. They are all looking at me.

They know I would soon sense it and confirm it.

Seconds passed, and I didn’t sense anything. A minute passed, and there was none.

The advancement may seem long to host in the state, but it finished in less than a minute, and it’s been a minute since she informed me.

It’s been a jest; someone had put quite an effort to fool Zarina. The woman is not easily fooled, but people have made fools of many smarter individuals.

Hun!

I opened my mouth to tell her that, when I sensed it. It has shocked me so much that I gripped the table to support myself.

The thing that took me countless struggles and decades of time. He achieved it in less than two years.

“How?” I asked after a few minutes of silence had passed. “Your old friend Bryndon had injured the staff and tried to force himself on the old mistress of his.”

“Silver protected her and fought with him. I am hearing that it had injured him a lot and destroyed a large part of the floor, but he didn’t give up.”

“Which seemed to spark the advancement,” she replied. Once more, shocking everyone, some even gasped in surprise.

“How was he able to fight him?” I asked. I should be asking about the advancement more, but I asked this because I know very well how powerful that bastard Bryndon is.

It took me the full power of my legacy and two artifacts to suppress him enough to embarrass him.

It was enough pressure to suppress, Lv. 40 to their knees. He is detestable, but he has a strong will, and that artifact is not weak either.

“That’s the thing, he fought him head-on. They said he used aura methods and more than one.”

“It’s been less than a year since he awakened the aura, and he has already learned enough methods and understood them enough to fight a Lv. 40,” replied Zarina, not daring to believe her own words.

It felt too unreal, so I simply sat down.

“You two must be shocked and regretting now that Velvet Garden has advanced to the throne?” asked Zarina, turning to Gilda and Revenna.

“When you explained how it happened, the shock disappeared. Master Silver will always fight for every employee of Velvet Garden, that’s the truth,”

“Just like it happened when the legacy was born. He stood against that bastard for our honor. Even when they attacked the legacy with cannons,” replied Gilda with a smile.

She was one of the people who witnessed it all and was in the room with Zanav.

“As for regret, no. This advancement makes no difference to the circumstances of Greltheaven and Velvet Garden. The undead are going to conquer it, and Master Silver won’t be able to stop them no matter what he does.”

“Now that it turned to a throne, they will want it even more,” added Revana, with deep pain in her eyes.

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