Emersyn descended near the huge and imposing wall of the Ruviel Empire. She settled Sloane down as the old man wheezed, clutching his chest. The speed of her flight towards the Ruviel Empire was so fast that his ears were still ringing; he was also collecting his breath from fear.
"Well, at the least, we got here for a few hours."
Sloane groaned, regretting everything that he had to regret in his entire life. He fixed his clothes and they proceeded towards the long line of people that were waiting to be let in. They waited there for a few minutes before it was finally their turn. Sloane presented Paladius' royal emblem and they were led into the huge castle at the center of the empire.
There, a man came running towards them and greeted, "Sir Sloane! I thought you were going to arrive a few months later, so I apologize for not greeting you properly! And… who is this madame?"
"Uh… this is the guard that I employed. She brought me here. Oh right! She also has a great idea for using the mana crystals!"
"Mana… crystals?"
"Those crystals that came out of the higher evolved monsters."
"Ah yes! Those are indeed great crystals. But other than using them as a decoration in the inner castle and the noble's district, they don't really have any more uses."
"It was what I thought too, sir Rommer, but this woman showed it to us and I can attest to it!"
"If that is what sir Sloane is saying, then I can talk to the Emperor for you. Please wait in this room for a while," Rommer said as he led Emersyn and Sloane into a luxurious room filled with expensive decorations and paintings.
Emersyn sat on the sofa and served herself some tea she steeped. The aroma caught Sloane's nose as he creeped closer to Emersyn.
"Miss Emersyn?"
"Hmm? Yes?"
"What kind of tea is that?"
"It's called Earl Grey tea. Want to try it?"
"Please."
Then Emersyn retrieved a cup from her inventory and poured tea for Sloane. He smelled beverage before taking a gulp before his eyes went wide. "This… this is high class tea… that I have never seen before!"
"It's from my world."
"Other world tea is great!"
"You will also enjoy this," Emersyn said as she handed mini cheesecakes over to Sloane.
"This is?" Sloane carefully accepted.
"It's called cheesecake in my world."
"Then I will take a bite…," he bit the soft cheesecake, his eyes went wide. "This is delicious!"
"I still have more."
"Please!"
Suddenly, they heard a light knock on the door then Rommer entered with his hands behind his back. "His Majesty, the Emperor, seeks your audience immediately. I will personally lead you to the throne room."
They arrived in front of the door leading towards the throne room. The door was gold with a hint of platinum and there were dragons engraved on it. It was so mesmerising that Sloane forgot how to speak for a moment. Then, the door opened and they were led inside. Once they approached the throne, they kneeled before the high rise throne.
The Emperor, still in his youth, looked intimidatingly at Emersyn as his gaze hovered over her head. His eyes went wide, suddenly standing unceremoniously from his golden throne.
"You… state who you are, woman."
"Emersyn Lachlan, Your Majesty," she said, her head bowed.
"Your country."
"I am from the world of Vinerthia."
The Emperor sighed in relief then sat down, his fingers trembling. He cautiously said, "Lady Emersyn, what would be your business in Ruviel?"
Emersyn raised her head and their eyes met for seconds before Emersyn took out a small mana crystal from her pocket. It floated from her hand then towards the Emperor.
"I would like to present to you some of the uses of this mana crystal."
"Yes, I have heard of it from Rommer."
"I want you to imagine a fire as you held the crystal with your mana."
The Emperor carefully held the crystal as he pictured a raging fire in his head. Then, the crystal burst forth incredible fire power and increased the temperature of the room. Emersyn quickly raised another crystal and produced water that caught all the fire and evaporated.
"... this is..."
"As you see, Your Majesty."
"A new way to use these crystals…."
"Indeed. We brought an endless amount of mana crystals to sell in your empire. These were taken from the demi-dragons we recently hunted for an expedition. I would say, one gold each for these crystals."
"Impertinent!" Rommer bellowed.
"Your Majesty?" Emersyn quietly signaled to the Emperor and he quieted Rommer down.
"This is a portable stove I have," she said as she retrieved a small stove from her inventory. "This one has mana crystals in them and they were built to produce fire and cook food. You will only insert a little mana here and the fire would last until you turned it off here by turning the knob."
"Interesting…," Sloane, Rommer and the Emperor quietly mused as they leaned over to look closer at the stove.
"Then this refrigerator that would last until the mana crystal disappeared completely. This device cools down and preserves food for days, weeks or months."
"One gold is indeed cheap for this," the Emperor muttered. "The country will buy all the mana crystals we can afford."
Rommer, who would usually oppose, nodded his head.
"How much would you like?"
"One platinum coin."
"Understood."
Emersyn was led towards the huge treasury room and she was instructed to lay all one million mana crystals inside. When she brought out huge chunks of them, Rommer's eyes glistened. However, when Emersyn broke it down to smaller pieces, his eyes shook.
"Why are you breaking them down?"
"You just knew how to use these mana crystals properly, right? Why are you expecting something purer and larger? Oh and, you all have little mana in your body, so it would be disastrous if you all would be exposed to larger amounts of mana."
"..."
"I'll continue now."
"Understood..."
"Besides, I will leave gifts for the Emperor," she mumbled as she broke down hundreds of huge mana crystals into the size of her hand.
After completing the task and receiving the money in gold as she requested, they left after Emersyn gave two huge chunks of mana crystals and one chunk of a purer crystal to the Emperor.
♢ ♢ ♢
"Your Majesty?!" Rommer exclaimed as soon as he saw the Emperor dressed in commoner's clothes as he came out of his room.
"Quiet, Rommer."
"Where are you going, Your Majesty?" Rommer whispered.
"I am going to follow Lady Emersyn. Besides, I am just plain Clyve right now."
"..."
"Don't make a fuss about it. I am also sure that Lady Emersyn would definitely protect me."
"Your---I mean, Clyve, you're the strongest person here in Ruviel… why do you need protection?"
"There are always unexpected things going to happen to someone like me. If you want to join me, do it quickly," Clyve said as he brisked down the hallway then out to the capital's adventurer's guild.
♢ ♢ ♢
Emersyn whistled as soon as she came out of the guild with Sloane behind her. They didn't manage to sell all of the materials, but they left the high class goods for the auction and the merchant's guild. They managed to amass 50,000 gold from the adventurer's guild and Emersyn distributed them for the remaining survivors of the expedition in her inventory. For now, they were walking towards where the merchant guild would be.
When they finished their business and received 70,000 gold, they immediately went to the auction to sell the rest of the materials that couldn't be bought. They also attended the auction that night and the rich people fought over the materials from the dragons. Emersyn could see how greedy their eyes were, so she decided to enter the bidding at the last minute, resulting in the price skyrocketing. She and Sloane became satisfied then collected their earned money in the shocking amount of 849,510 gold.
♢ ♢ ♢
Emersyn descended down in the center of Paladius then settled Sloane down on the cleaned ground. Since the people that participated in the expedition were told to stay near the castle grounds and look out for Emersyn's arrival from the Empire. The instant Emersyn landed, the sixty-seven survivors formed a circle with Emersyn and Sloane at the center.
Emersyn smiled and then retrieved a bag of gold. She loudly announced, "There will be a distribution of 14,400 gold!"
"What… more than fourteen thousand gold?! Gold!!! How much would it be if those were distributed to us?"
"Uh… we have sixty seven people… divide by 14,400… ugh! I don't have a brain for this!"
"... I can live peacefully for years even without adventuring!"
"I can feed my family!"
"Wait!" Emersyn shouted. As soon as the crowd quieted, she continued, "Each of you will receive 14,400 gold."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"So, line up and we will distribute the earnings to you equally. Don't worry though. Your dead comrade's family will be properly given money too."
The crowd cheered so loud that the ground trembled.
"Line up!"
"Kyaaaah!!! Fourteen thousand gooooold!"
"I am so glad I joined the expedition!"
"Hurrah!!!"
"Calm down, you lots. Geez," Sloane grumbled. "We did our best to maximize our profit after all. So, heroes, your share is also here. The same as the rest of them. Please accept them."
"... we can pay Emersyn up front now..."
"But we are still going to be slaves, right?"
"Of course. We need to be versed in her world."
When Emersyn finished distributing the gold and the others already dispersed, she sighed in relief and began going to the families of the deceased that perished in the expedition then proceeded to distribute huge chunks of meat and numerous mana crystals---explaining the necessary points to consider---to the poor.
Emersyn quickly finished her job then returned where she could see Flora and the four heroes waiting for her in the castle grounds.
"Thanks for your patience. We will be going now."
Emersyn opened the portal leading to Strevalia and they simultaneously entered before it disappeared. However, when Flora stepped into the soil of Strevalia along with Elodiaren and the three heroes who were enjoying a clean air, she turned around only to not find Emersyn.