Lia "hey wend, what's with that face"
It was the morning of the next day, lia commented on the tired look I was wearing on my face.
Luise "isn't it obvious he's tired from dealing with all those nobles"
Arial "yeah, that viscount mongerard, sure was insistant"
Wendelin "no, he actually was a big help. He made sure that no noble would be able to spend more time with me than what is appropriate. He also made sure that I wasn't completely swamped"
It would seem from his actions that viscount mongerard must have been ordered by his patron marquis ruckner, to keep an eye out for me.
Berkhart "lad, I just got a call from the duke, go to his mansion in breitburg and pick him up"
I then travle to breitburg and arrive in the study of the duke's mansion. I then return with the duke and his guards to the brandt family mansion in the royal capital.
It seems that berkhart had already told the girls to leave, the duke then commands his guards to stand at the door of the room. It seemed that the brandt family had been informed of the circumstances beforehand by berkhart.
Amadeus "His majesty contacted me last night via magic communication device, and stated his intentions"
Wendelin "which would be?"
Amadeus "his majesty wishes for your help in the liberation of the palkenia grasslands, in return for your help he shall provide 5000 troops to aid in the liberation of the great zenda forest"
Wendelin "wait! the liberation of the great zenda forest, from where did that come up?"
Amadeus "you know that the great zenda forest is one of the largest monster domains on the continent, which lies in the north west of the breithild dukedom, because of it, inland trade between the west and south is impossible, so the only way to trade is by taking an incredibly long detour or to do it by magic airship"
Wendelin "so by liberating and developing it, the breithild dukedom will be able to prosper through inland trade with the west"
In this world where, travle by sea was difficult due to sea monsters and travle by air was expensive, the most viable method of trading is through land routes.
Amadeus "yes, if we are successful in liberating the great zenda forest than direct trade between west and south will become possible, also right now its only possible for us to trade with the central region, it is the same for the west as well, because of this reason duke homer, who governs the western part of the kingdom will support the development as well"
For the southern dukedom of breithild, trade with the east is also possible, but the relations between duke breithild and duke browig are quite bad, due to this trade has suffered between the eastern and southern dukedoms. Thus duke breithild wishes to establish trade with the western dukedom of homer.
Wendelin "aren't you already focusing on the development of the regen plains, how do you plan to develop the great zenda forest as well"
Amadeus "well I am not going to develop it, you are"
The duke said with a mischievous smile.
Wendelin "me?"
I said with a surprised expression.
Amadeus "yes you, upon the liberation of the great zenda forest you shall be bestowed the right to half of those lands, all the lands to the east of the river bisecting the great zenda forest shall be granted to you, while I shall keep the lands to the west of the river along the coast "
Wendelin " I see, you need my help to liberate these lands, and I am receiving half of them as concessions, but aren't these terms very generous towards me"
Amadeus "under normal circumstances they would be, but those lands need to be developed as fast as possible, for trade to flourish between the south and west, handing them over to you, would insure fast development of those lands, since you can speed up the development through magic. You would also receive the full support of the kingdom, in the development, as a part of the reward for your participation in the liberation of the palkenia grasslands"
Wendelin "there's more to this, thats not enough of a reason to give me half of the lands"
Hearing my words duke breithild let out a defeated sigh.
Berkhart "you should know, the boy isn't so easy to fool"
Amadeus "hah, your right, there's also another reason, the kingdom doesn't want any of the dukedoms becoming too powerful, if the breithild household is able to successfully develop, the regen plains and the great zenda forest at the same time then the kingdom and the other two duke houses would increase their wariness towards the duke breithild household "
It seems that the kingdom and the other two duke household would try to cause hindrances, if the duke moves forward with the development on his own. The development would become very slow then, since most of his resources are going towards the development of the regen plains.
Duke breithild, duke homer and the Kingdom reached a compromise, by granting half of the lands to me, and have me develop them. Both of the western and southern dukdoms will receive economic growth and greater tax revenue through increase in trade, while the kingdom would be able maintain the power balance between its great houses. With the combined support of both the duke households and the kingdom, along with my magic and the incredibly large sum of money I received from master as inheritance, as well as the money I will receive for the corpse of the dragon, the development should progress very quickly.
Wendelin "so you compromised with the kingdoms government and the duke homer household, by granting half of the lands to me, at the same time gaining their support to ensure the quick development of those lands"
Amadeus "yes, exactly! "
The duke says in a proud tone.
Wendelin "well its actually a pretty good deal for all sides including me, but I thought you were planning to use me for the development of the savage lands"
Amadeus "hmm, what gave you that idea?"
Duke breithild asks with a nervous look on his face, upon seeing my unconvinced expression, he decided to stop his bad acting.
Amadeus "hmm, you already knew about that huh?"
Berkhart "you should stop underestimating the lad, you know"
I remain quite while they speak among themselves.
Amadeus "I guess your right, well anyway the plan for you to develop the savage lands is still going to happen, you can think of this as a trial run"
I see, so if I do a good job in the development of the great zenda forest, than the kingdom would feel assured in entrusting the development of the savage lands to me, but if I end up failing then I wouldn't be in any position to complain.
Me, berkhart and duke breithild moved our gazes towards the door of the room, which just opened. The one who walked in was rudiger while one of the duke's guards followed him.
Rudiger "duke breithild, a summon has arrived for you, from his majesty, the carriage is waiting outside"
Helmut the 37th pov
Climt "I am honored that you have made time, to speak with me your majesty"
Helmut "we donot mind, if its for you"
I am currently sitting on the throne in the private audiance chamber. The one who I was speaking with is none other than my childhood friend and the royal head magician, climt cristoph von armstrong.
He is very tall, with a large and strong build, blonde hair and blue eyes, had it not been for his wizard robes and the staff made completely out of mithril with a large magic gem at its top, which he held in his hand, one would mistake him as some sort of warrior.
Helmut "we would now like to hear your report regarding the pelkania grasslands"
Climt is my closest confidant, I had sent him on a reconnaissance mission of the pelkania grasslands, in preparation of the coming liberation operation.
Climt "I have nothing new to report your majesty"
Previous generations of the head royal magicians, have carried out reconnaissance of the pelkania grasslands, and it seems there haven't been any major Changes since the last report.
Helmut "then, it means there is no other way, but to defeat grade grande"
Grade grande is an earth dragon type monster, which is the boss monster of the pelkania grasslands.
Climt "that is indeed the case your majesty, but with the help of the young dragon slayer alongside myself our victory is all but assured"
Helmut "we have come to an agreement with duke breithild, he shall allow his and berkart rindsteds participation, they should be arriving any minute now"
Climt "I am eager to meet him"
Helmut "yes, we shall discuss the plans regarding the liberation of the palkenia grasslands with them, once they arrive"
??? "there's also the matter regarding the payment for the dragon corpse your majesty"
I look to my right, where the voice came from and see a man in his 50's with black hair and eyes, a pointed beard, slightly over weight body, and medium height, dressed in luxurious clothes. The one standing there is lord commissioner ruckner.
??? "You are as stingy as ever"
A man to the left in military attire, who appeared to be in his 50's as well spoke up. He has brown hair and eyes, a curly mustache with a well built tall body and the face of a soldier. It was the minister of military and naval affairs edgar.
Helmut "we have already settled on a payment of 2000 platinum coins"
Ruckner "your majesty, I still believe it is too much"
Helmut "it is an appropriate amount according to specialist we appointed to appraise its worth, this amount is also within the budget, correct"
Ruckner "yes your majesty, but.."
Helmut "but nothing, this topic shall be discussed no further"
Hearing my words minister ruckner, reluctantly shut up. At that moment the door of the audience room opened. A young boy and two men entered led by a knight. The men were duke breithild and Burkhart ringsted, the young child was wendelin von benno baumeister, and the knight who led them was non other then warren, the company commander of the royal chivalric knights.
Warren "your majesty, I have brought duke breithild, brantag ringsted and our young hero"
Wendelin pov
We entered into the private audience chamber led by warren, who greeted us at the gate of the royal castle, on his majesties command. Warren then joined the royal guards at the side of the room, while we walk towards the throne and kneel before his majesty.
Helmut "please rise, we have much to discuss"
All three of us, then got up from our kneeling position, then a large muscular man wearing magician robes came near me, put his hands on my shoulder, and spoke.
Climt "so, your Alfred's successor, its truly amazing your magic capacity is incredible, just standing near you, I am able to feel a fearsome aura"
Berkhart "I know what you mean, the lad is a monster"
Wendelin "hey! I am right here"
Berkhart "sorry about that, but its true"
Helmut "we know you are excited to meet the boy climt, but let us discuss business first"
Me, Berkhart and climt became silent, seeing this his majesty continued.
Helmut "first of all there is the matter of payment for the core and magic bones of the dragon, lord commissioner ruckner, plese explain the breakdown of the payment"
The man to the right side of his majesty who has been identified as minister ruckner, spoke up with a defeated tone.
Ruckner "after having specialists appraise the core and magic bones of the dragon, the kingdom has decided to pay, 1600 platinum coins for the magic core and 400 platinum coins for the bones, the rest is being auctioned off, the amount obtained from those, will be paid to you ser baumeister. The amount from the bones and core have already been transferred to your bank account, the rest will be transferred after the auction for the rest of the dragon parts, has been completed "
The payment is in the range of what I expected. I don't remember opening a bank account though, he's probably talking about master's bank account, the ownership of which was transferred over to me, after his death.
Berkhart "seems like you made a lot of money in one go, lad"
I nod at Berkharts statement, with a smile on my face, content with the reward from the kingdoms side.
Helmut "since the payment of the reward from the kingdoms side has finished, let us discuss the plan regarding the liberation of the pelkania grasslands, minister edgar please explain the plan"
The tall man to his majesties left spoke up.
Edgar "its simple really, ser baumeister and the royal head magician climt armstrong will go defeat grade grande, after that our troops along with the hired adventurers lead by berkhart will move in, and carryout the monster extermination. Ser baumeister and the royal head magician climt armstrong will assist as well. The deployment will happen two days from now, until then you all should prepare yourselves "
Minister edgar explained the plan while directing the last line towards me and climt, since the success of this operation is on our shoulders. His majesty then started to speak.
Helmut "lord commissioner ruckner, start making plans along with minister rhine, to start the development of the pelkania grasslands"
Minister edgar and ruckner, seeing that there work was done, left after gaining his majesties permissions, both of them should be really busy planning for the pelkania grassland's liberation operation. His majesty then directs his attention towards us before speaking.
Helmut "the capital of the kingdom, statburg has always had difficulty securing food, up till now it has been transported to the capital from far away, with the increasing population more food is now needed. We wish to cut our reliance on external sources by developing the pelkania grasslands into a major grain producing region"
Well if something like a civil war ever happend, the food supply to the capital could be easily cut off, so by developing the pelkania grasslands into a grain producing region, the capital would be able to become self sufficient in regards to food.
The largest agricultural lands in the kingdom are located in the south and west, with the kingdom's government not buying there food from them anymore, this would be a big loss for them. That's why the kingdom is supporting the development of the great zenda forest, which would largely benefit the west and south.
We then left the private audience chamber as well after gaining permission from his majesty.
...
...
...
Two days have past, in that time the dragon parts that been put on auction, sold for around 500 platinum coins.
The liberation of the pelkania grasslands has also began, I am currently flying towards the layer of grade grande, alongside climt who had his mana capacity increased to its maximum, after performing capacity matching with me.
In capacity matching, a person with larger amount of mana would run, his or her magic power through a person with lower magic power. This will result in the increase in mana capacity of the person who has lower amount of mana, up to the same level as the person with the larger magic capacity, unless the person with lower magic capacity reach their limit, in that case their magic capacity won't grow any further. By performing capacity matching with me, climt's mana capacity had reached its maximum, which was more than double of what it was before.
We were flying towards our target grade grande, I had a leather bag with me which was filled with 20 magic bags.
After the battle with grade grande, I am planning to use my 'clone skill' to hunt as many monsters as possible. My clone skill's greatest advantage is that the memories and experience of the clones would be transferred back to me, when they dispell, but the disadvantages is that, when I make a clone my clothes and magic tools are also cloned, but the magic tools don't really function, so I have to provide my clones with atleast a magic bag, so they can store everything they have hunted and gathered.
Climt "get ready, we should be arriving at its location shortly"
We had already come up with a plan, I am going to stay back and prepare a cutter tornado spell, while he would go and attack. Once grade grande becomes disoriented by climt's attack, he will move away and in that moment and I'll attack.
Both of us arrived at the layer of grade grande, climt immediately used his own original spell 'magic mobile armour', it was an armour materialized with his own mana, the armour increased his defense and strength to its maximum. The magic staff in his hand turned into a war hammer, by using the same magic.
I stayed back and wited for the moment to release the magic, I already prepared, while climt used high speed flight magic and headed in the direction of great grande. It has a body like a crocodile, which is 30 meters in length with the head of a western dragon.
Climt flew at high speed and dealt devastating blow after blow, along its body especially on its head. It tried to fight back, by using it tail to attack, but its tail got grabbed by climt, who threw it along with it's entire body, it then landed on its back, taking this opportunity climt used wind emission magic in the form of snakes to attack its head.
At that moment climt starts to fly away from grade grande, now it was my turn. I immediately released the 'cutter tornado' at it, as my attack made contact, it started shrieking, after a while its body fell limp and the color of the wind in my spell had turned red, due to its blood. I used a life detection spell to check and see if it is dead, only after confirming it's death, I ended my spell.
After ending my spell, I used water magic to gather the dragons blood which it lost during my attack and gathered it in one place, before taking out ceramic pots from my magic bag and storing the dragons blood inside them.
Climt "that was splendidly done! But what are you doing with those pots"
He seemed very happy, about our win. I was quite pleased as well.
Wendelin "I was storing the blood that it lost, during my attack, It would be able to sell for a good price, since dragon blood is used in many potions and medicines"
Climt "that is a good idea, store the body of the beast as well, we shall split the money 50/50"
Wendelin "but didn't you do most of the work"
Climt "its fine, since finishing it off, would have been extremely difficult, had it not been for you"
Hearing this, I store the pots with the blood and the body of great grande in my magic bag, there was no fear of them spoiling, since good dont spoil in the magic bag, due to the statis magic inside it.
I then made twenty clones and give them each a magic bag for gathering the corpses of the monsters they hunt, after that I sent them out in different directions.
Climt "was that the clone magic, I heard about from alfred? "
Wendelin "yes, its extremely mana intensive, but for someone like me who has a incrediblely large amount of mana it is perfect"
The magic cost of the 'clone skill' is really high, just making one uses up magic equal to climt's entire magic capacity, also the clones dispell themselves when they run out of mana, so the clones have to use their mana very efficiently.
Climt "I have informed the army about our success. Lets go, I detect a large number of monsters from that direction"
Climt informs the army about our success by using a magic communication device. Both of us then head towards a large herd of monsters to hunt them, in order to help the army in the monster extermination.