VOLUME 9: CHAPTER 7

For several days, Irene pondered about Lark’s offer. She carefully considered whether or not she should accept the offer to become the new king’s secretary. Although the position would grant her authority, it was accompanied by tremendous responsibilities.

“It’s not like I could just accept it on a whim,” she muttered.

After telling her that she was already old enough to make a decision on her own, her father left for Golden Wheat City. There was no longer anyone she could confide in and ask for advice.

With the intent of clearing her mind, she decided to go for a walk in the streets of the capital. She donned plain-looking clothes and went out of their estate in the Middle District.

As she traversed the main street of the capital, she observed the faces of the people she passed by along the way. Male, female, young, and old – once she became the King’s secretary, she would be able to wield power capable of influencing the lives of all these people.

She would definitely be the target of envy. The enemies of the royal faction might even aim for her life. Still, peculiarly, Irene did not fear any of these. The new king said that he would become a strong shield for her, after all. The new king promised that she would not be hammered down, even if she became a nail sticking out – that she could go all out and show everyone what she was capable of. Those words were strangely comforting, she thought.

‘What’s that?’

As she was walking in the streets, she noticed the dozens of workers coming in and out of the slum’s entrance. She also heard several loud banging sound, the sound of stones and wood crashing down, the sound of people yelling, the sound of hammer hitting iron. The smell of sand, pulverized rocks, and splintered wood permeated the air.

Curiosity struck her and she decided to see the commotion herself. Thankfully, the clothes she decided to wear weren’t gaudy. With her sun-kissed skin and plain clothes, she could easily pass as a commoner.

With purposeful steps, she entered the slums.

“Be careful on that one! Do not forget, remove the valuable materials first!”

“Those timbers are salvageable! Move them over here!”

“We still need to demolish the next building after this! Hurry up!”

Irene was surprised upon realizing what was happening.

It was a demolition.

A large-scale one at that.

Over a hundred people – carpenters, masons, and laborers – were concurrently demolishing several structures in the slums. After removing valuable materials, particularly those with resale value, they immediately proceeded with destroying the frameworks of the houses in the slums.

Under normal circumstances, such a large-scale demolition job would have sparked an uproar within the capital. The slum people, who would have nothing left in their names after their homes were destroyed, would riot and fight with their lives on the line. But strangely enough, the demolition was proceeding in a relatively peaceful manner. Irene even saw several men, who seemed to be slum people, helping out with the demolition.

“Lady, you shouldn’t be here.”

Irene looked behind her, at the owner of the voice. It was a boy wearing cheap tunic and a worn-out sandal. His face was smudged with dust and soil. Unbeknownst to Irene, he was the same boy who served as Big Mona’s guide in the slums before.

“They’ve started demolishing the main building,” said the boy. “The Boss said that it’ll take some time, probably several days, since it’s the largest and strongest structure in our territory. But who knows what could happen? It might suddenly collapse with a single wrong move from the laborers.”

Irene noticed that the boy was carrying a small box filled with iron fittings. Although their homes were being destroyed before their eyes, the boy did not seem angry at all.

“What’s happening here?” said Irene. The sound of the laborers hitting wood and stone reverberated in the alleyways. “Why are they destroying the homes of all these people?”

The boy tilted his head to the side. He looked at her quizzically. “Destroying our homes? Lady, you haven’t heard about it, huh? The new king had already given an ordinance. The slums and its people are going to be…” He paused and knitted his brows. “What were the Boss’ exact words again? Incorporated into the capital?”

Irene was dumbfounded upon hearing this.

Incorporate the entire slums and its people into the capital?

It was an extremely ambitious project, and no ruler had successfully pulled it off before. After all, although it sounded easy in theory, there were innumerable things they had to consider. Irene knew that as long as there was poverty, the slums wouldn’t cease to exist. Poor planning, politics, economic stagnation and depression, unemployment, and social conflicts – these were among the contributing factors to the formation of slums. The astronomical costs aside, the new king would need to address these issues if he wanted to pull this feat off.

Irene stared at the boy before her. Even a kid like this was working hard to help with the demolition.

“You seem happy about this,” said Irene. “I assume that His Majesty has given you a temporary place to stay while the demolition is taking place?”

The boy grinned. He nodded several times. “You’re smart. That’s right, lady! We’ve been given temporary shacks outside the capital!”

It was the same shelter given to the migrants who flocked to the capital after the demons’ attack.

“Although some members are dissatisfied with the size of the temporary homes,” said the boy. “Most of us are happy that we’re finally being recognized as official residents of Behemoth City! I’m used to sleeping on the streets anyway. A shack is already godsend!”

“And look!” The boy raised the box he was holding. “Even a kid like me managed to land a job yesterday!”

Irene could feel the boy’s glee and enthusiasm just from his voice alone. Looking around, she noticed that even the other slum people working as laborers were full of vigor.

“They’re paying you?” said Irene.

The boy proudly smiled. “Three silvers a month. And all I have to do is carry these scraps to a designated place. I heard that the adults earn more.”

“Hey, Caspian!” shouted a large, muscular man with a burn scar across his face. “We’re not paying you to slack off, you shitty brat! Get over here!”

The boy stiffened. He strengthened his grip on the box he was holding. He mumbled, “Damn, I didn’t notice that Boss Luvik is already here. I need to go, lady!”

While carrying the box with him, Caspian ran toward Luvik. He halted, looked at Irene, and shouted, “Return to the main street, lady! You shouldn’t be here!”

After uttering those words, Caspian handed Luvik the box. Although the muscular man started scolding Caspian, it seemed that he had no intention of harming the boy.

After speaking with the boy, Irene decided to investigate further. And after snooping around, she learned several things.

First, the things uttered by the boy was just the tip of the iceberg. Irene learned that not only the king gave the order of demolishing the slums, he also planned on rebuilding it anew and giving the new houses to its former residents. There was also the plan of building a Weavers Guild, several inns, and a school in this area. Moreover, it seemed that all of the slum people, no matter the gender and age, would be entitled to free education.

It was a shocking revelation.

Why was the new king going this far just for the sake of all these people?

After learning all of these, Irene went back to their estate. She spent the entire evening mulling over things. Unable to sleep, she laid on her bed all night, pondering and trying to come up with a decision.

After finally coming to a decision, the very next day, she visited Lark in the king’s castle.

She finally decided to accept the offer of becoming the new king’s secretary.

***

Things weren’t going well for the Vont Family these days. As the largest supplier of arms for the Kelvin Family, they lost a significant portion of their income after the fall of Kelvin Duchy and the execution of Duke Kelvin. And as though that wasn’t enough, the new king’s most-trusted merchant – Big Mona – started putting a lot of pressure on their guild.

Although an organization as large as the Merchants Guild of the capital would remain standing even if you cut off its arms, it would eventually fall if you cut off all its limbs. Even a titan like them would crumble if they continued sustaining this much damage. Reginald Vont knew that he had to do something. Otherwise, he might see the fall of his family during his generation. He couldn’t let that happen, no matter what.

Inside his office in the Merchants Guild, Reginald called for his assistant.

“You called for me, sir?”

“My daughter should still be in the capital. Go to the king’s castle and personally deliver this letter to her,” said Reginald.

Reginald slid a sealed envelope to his assistant. The assistant respectfully received the letter. “It shall be delivered right away, sir.”

The assistant was among the few people who knew that the daughter of Reginald Vont was among the disciples of King Lark. Although the assistant had been working for the Vonts for several years now, he still found it absurd that the woman was an offspring of a Vont and an Aria. An offspring of two of the most powerful families in this kingdom.

A few hours after the assistant left for the castle, he came back, bringing Chryselle with him.

“You called for me, father?” said Chryselle.

Reginald looked at his assistant, wordlessly asking him to leave the room. After the assistant left, Reginald gazed at Chryselle for several seconds. She had grown so much since they’d last seen each other.

“You’ve become a spitting image of Tricia when she was young. No wonder that stupid brother of yours is doting on you,” said Reginald. He sighed, “If only she were still alive…”

“It’s a given that I would look like mother,” said Chryselle, her voice calm and composed. “And although my brother looks like a ruffian, he isn’t stupid, father.”

Reginald smiled. “Of course,” he said. It was rare for his daughter to defend her brother like this. “I heard that you’ve become the disciple of His Majesty. I’m surprised Alecto didn’t object to it.”

“He did,” Chryselle admitted. “Initially, he even planned on rallying all of the magicians of the Tower to beat up my master.”

Reginald laughed. The stoic-looking face he always showed to his subordinates was gone. Right now, he was nothing but a father. A doting one at that.

“Is that so? It must have given you quite the headache, trying to suppress that nasty temper of his!”

Reginald’s laughter echoed in his office.

“I read your letter, father,” said Chryselle. “What do you mean by mana stone mines?”

“It’s exactly as what was written in the letter,” said Reginald. “I recently got my hands on a mana stone mine near Quasan City. It’s located deep underneath a depleted copper mine.”

There were two known ways to obtain mana stones. First was to extract them from the corpses of monsters. Second was to mine them from places abundant in ambient mana. Between the two, the first method was the most commonly implemented one. Mana stone mines were incredibly rare, after all.

“The mana stone mine,” said Reginald. “I plan on presenting it as a gift to the new ruler of this kingdom.”

Although they would be losing out on astronomical profits from this one, after contemplation, Reginald deemed that this was the best course of action for now. He was starting to lose grip on his powers after the recent events in the kingdom. Hopefully, with this present, he would be able to gain the new king’s favor.

“Are you sure about this, father?” said Chryselle. Even she was surprised by her father’s decision. As a magician, she was well aware of how precious a mana stone mine was, after all.

“I have eyes and ears in the king’s castle,” said Reginald. “Since that pig has already established himself as the king’s top merchant, this probably wouldn’t be enough to gain the new king’s favor. But thankfully, we have you, my dear daughter.”

Chryselle suppressed a frown from forming on her face. She did not like the direction of the conversation.

“Good job on becoming King Lark’s disciple,” said Reginald. “I heard he really dotes on his people. As long as you’re by his side, it should be possible for him to overlook our previous arms trade with the Kelvins.”

Chryselle was no fool. Even she could surmise that the Vont Family was also the ones who were supplying arms to Black Midas. But now that the Kelvin Family and the largest underworld organization of the kingdom had fallen, he decided to salvage what he could and switch sides.

“As long as you remain as his disciple, even Big Mona wouldn’t be able to easily touch us,” Reginald said with confidence.

“I didn’t become his disciple for this, father,” said Chryselle in a cold voice.

“Of course,” said Reginald. “But for the sake of our family. Your family.” He emphasized the last two words. “I hope you’ll continue earning King Lark’s favor.”