Chapter 1097: Chapter 1095-What To Do With All This Land?

“So, they all are requesting me?”

I asked as I sat on the sofa. Lily was now looking like a real secretary standing in front of me with a smile as she nodded her head.

“The amount of meetings you are being called for is overloading what we can even process.”

“Sounds nice.”

I replied as Luna curled herself happily on my lap, relaxing herself with a smile as I patted her head. Beside me sat Krave, looking like a human woman; she too was seated on the side with a light, warm smile on her face as she just sat there. We had just arrived moments ago, and Lily pulled me in to update me on everything that had happened.

“Has the meeting been set?”

I asked, to which Lily nodded her head.

“Good, then let’s go.”

Just as I said so, Luna moved and was lazily leaning off my shoulder. Krave, taking it all in with a silent look, followed after me as I walked out of the room. To the rest, like Vixuola, I had been in this room for the last few days without leaving. So for the vultures, this was the first time I was leaving the room since I came in here.

With light steps, I kept moving forward, soon breaking out of the room, walking into the vast hallways that looked fit for the rich. With Lily taking the lead and Krave by my side, the three of us moved through the vast hallways, got into an elevator which soon reached the floor I was getting into. A crowded hallway.

Different species and everything moving around as Lily led, we moved into the meeting room already set. Of course, my senses had already picked up the several eyes already watching us the moment I stepped out of the elevator. Several of them were looking and tracking my full movements, even noting Krave, who suddenly appeared by my side.

They would search and try to understand how she had got into my room, and they would also find her registered correctly to enter too. We had taken care of that situation before getting in here. Everything is in tip-top shape as we moved through the place to a private meeting room. The moment I entered, my eyes landed on those 15 or so of my members that met last time to discuss the future of my faction.

Their faces, which were lazy before and perhaps with a hint of not giving their all, now had faces full of excitement and wonder and greed and, let’s say, hope. It was a mix of sweet emotions flooding me with a desire to corrupt, which I held at bay. Holding myself as I walked into the room with a smile.

“Collis, you look chippier than usual. Did anything good happen?”

I asked as I took a seat, earning me small chuckles around the room and making the atmosphere a bit warmer and cooler than before. Luna was still lazily on my shoulder while Krave took my right seat close to me, a smile on her lips as she too watched everything around her.

“What can I say, lord? Maybe something good did happen, but it just also feels like poison too. One that slowly kills you….”

I narrowed my eyes at his words. This guy’s mood-killing words are making me lightly annoyed, but I let it be. It’s good to have someone always cynical in the team. Helps to make sure things go in the correct path without any sort of arrogance.

“Don’t the healers say that sometimes poison is power that can be a blessing that makes you stronger?”

I returned the words, making Collis think as I got to the main topic at hand.

“So let’s get to the matter at hand. Suddenly, the land which we received that was useless, has now become the prime property in the world in a day. So what to do?”

My words resounded out, making the others look at each other as different ones started to speak.

For a moment nobody wanted to be first. Then Brek stood up, pushing her chair back with a scrape. Thick arms crossed, braided hair swaying slightly as she walked to the center of the table.

“Alright, enough whispering among yourselves. If you have something to say, say it to the lord’s face.”

That shut a few mouths real quick. Brek turned to me next, her expression far more businesslike now.

“Lord, before anyone throws ideas around, you need to know exactly what’s sitting on our table. Word has already gotten out that the land is yours to keep, contract and all. Which means every minor faction to big ones, every merchant guild, every two-bit power company with more ambition than sense has sent something our way.”

“How bad is it?”

I asked, already knowing the answer wouldn’t be small. Brek didn’t even blink.

“Bad enough that Seris has had to make a separate ledger just for this.”

Seris, sitting a few seats down, raised a hand slightly like she was called on in a classroom. She used to be an administrator before joining us, and it showed in everything she did.

“I can read out the summary if the lord wishes.”

“Go ahead.”

She cleared her throat, flipping through a small stack of parchment that looked like it had been organized by category and priority.

“Seventeen major factions have offered trade route access through their territories in exchange for land rights, ranging from a tenth of an acre to nearly five acres in one particularly bold case. Nine companies have offered standing contracts, free of charge for the first year, in exchange for settlement rights on the land. Four merchant guilds want exclusive trading posts built directly on the blessed soil, claiming it would boost crop and herb quality beyond anything currently on the market. And three separate alliance proposals have come in from smaller factions wanting to merge resources with us, though reading between the lines, they mostly want a foothold on what we have.”

She set the parchment down.

“That’s just what came in through official channels. Unofficial offers, whispers, bribes routed through servants and messengers, those number in the dozens more.”

The room went quiet again, letting that sink in. Collis, seated near the far end with his arms folded, let out a low whistle.

“And here I thought yesterday was busy.”

“You said something good happened but felt like poison.”

I said, glancing at him.

“Guess now we know which part is the poison.”

That earned a few chuckles, breaking some of the tension, though Collis’s face didn’t shift much. He was never one to laugh at his own jokes, or anyone else’s for that matter.

Carven leaned forward next. Being an elf, he had that calm, measured way of speaking that made even his complaints sound diplomatic. He’d been handling most of our operational matters since the faction started, quietly making sure things actually worked instead of just sounded good on paper.

“Lord, if I may steer this toward something more useful than tallying greed, the land itself needs a real assessment before anyone starts bartering pieces of it away. We don’t even know the full potential of what we’re sitting on yet.”

“Go on.”

“From what little scouting we’ve managed since the blessing, the soil alone could support farmland capable of feeding several times our current numbers. That’s without touching the parts suited for herb cultivation, which the elves among the offers are practically salivating over. Beyond that, if we build proper wards along the border lines instead of relying on the five-year contract protection alone, we could turn this into something defensible long before that protection runs out. Garrison points along the natural ridges, watchtowers near the river bend, it’s all there. We don’t need anyone else’s help to make this land work. We need time and manpower we already control.”

“So your answer is we don’t need to give anyone a slice to make this profitable.”

“Correct. Every acre we keep is an acre we control completely, without strings attached from outside houses who’ll expect favors returned tenfold later.”

That was when the first real split in the room showed itself. A woman near the back, one of the fifteen I recognized but hadn’t spoken with much, raised her voice.

“With respect to Carven, control means nothing if we’re alone against everyone who wants a piece. Giving away even five to ten percent to the right houses buys us goodwill we desperately need. We’re new. We’re small. If a war does come after the five years, having allies who feel like they already have a stake in this land might be the only reason they show up to fight for us instead of against us.”

A few heads nodded at that. It wasn’t a stupid point, and I could see the appeal from a purely strategic angle. Numbers matter. Alliances matter. But something about the framing rubbed at me the wrong way, the same itch I get whenever someone tries dressing up a loss as an investment.

“You’re saying give away a piece now so they feel obligated to help later.”

“Essentially, yes.”

Another voice joined in from near Carven, one of his own operational team, backing up the woman’s point with talk of supply chains and how certain houses controlled resources we’d eventually need regardless of the land’s own output. More voices layered on top, some agreeing, some pushing back, the room slowly splitting into two clear camps right in front of me. Brek tried keeping order, calling on people one at a time, but the energy in the room had shifted from organized discussion into something closer to a heated debate.

Through all of it, Daven hadn’t said a single word. He sat near the corner, arms crossed, eyes half-lidded like he found the whole thing mildly exhausting. I’d learned by now that when Daven stayed quiet this long, it usually meant he was waiting for something specific to be said before he bothered opening his mouth.

“You’ve got something to add?”

I asked directly, cutting through the crossfire of arguments. The room quieted a bit, more out of curiosity than respect, since Daven rarely spoke unless it mattered.

“Just that everyone arguing for goodwill seems to forget how short memories are in this world once real profit is on the line.”

He said flatly.

“Give them five percent, and in five years they’ll have convinced themselves they deserve fifteen. Give them nothing, and at least the lines stay clear. Enemies who know they’re enemies are easier to plan around than false friends who think they’re owed something.”

That landed heavier than I expected. Even Collis, who usually had some cynical remark ready, just nodded slowly at that one.

Luna, who had been quietly dozing against my shoulder through most of the meeting, stirred slightly and muttered under her breath, low enough that only I could hear.

“He’s not wrong.”

I glanced sideways at Krave, who had remained silent this entire time, seated close to my right with that same warm, unreadable smile she always carried. She hadn’t offered a single opinion, hadn’t leaned one way or the other, just watched everything unfold with the patience of someone who already knew where this was heading.

The debate carried on a little longer, numbers being thrown around, hypothetical scenarios stacked on top of each other, until I finally raised a hand. It wasn’t loud, but the room stopped anyway.

“Here’s where this ends. No land changes hands. Not a sliver, not an acre, not a single square foot handed over as a goodwill gesture, a bribe, or a favor dressed up as diplomacy.”

A few people opened their mouths to argue, but I kept going before they could.

“I understand the logic behind buying allies now. I do. But the moment we start giving pieces away because we’re scared of what might happen in five years, we’ve already told everyone watching that we can be pressured into folding. That’s worse than having no allies at all. If someone wants to work with us, they can offer something real: manpower, resources, protection, without expecting a piece of blessed land as payment. This land stays whole. Every part of it.”

Silence settled over the table, the kind that comes right after a decision has been made and everyone’s busy adjusting their expectations around it. Brek was the first to nod, arms uncrossing as she straightened up.

“Understood, lord. I’ll make sure every offer gets the same answer, polite refusal, no exceptions.”

“Do that.”

Seris was already scribbling something onto a fresh sheet, likely drafting the wording for however many rejection letters were about to go out. Carven looked satisfied, clearly relieved his operational plans wouldn’t be complicated by outside claims cutting into his projections. Collis just leaned back in his chair, muttering something about poison having its uses after all.

The meeting wasn’t over, not by a long shot, but the first real line had been drawn, and everyone in that room now knew exactly where it sat.