Click!
The door opened, and Caena walked inside. We are having our regular meeting, which happens every three days, and today is a little special.
It had been one and a half months since she had been creating ritual enchantments for me. I am now confident they are real and trust her enough that I could ask her to do that thing.
"Master Silver," she greeted.
"Caena, take a seat," I offered a seat. "Thank you, Master Silver," she said as she sat down in front of me.
"How are the ritual enchantments?" I asked. "I had finished about 50% of them and imprinted 40%," she informed me, and I couldn't help but get surprised.
Three days ago, she said, she finished 20% of ritual enchantment from the latest list, of which 80% of them imprinted into the establishment.
"It is quite fast," I said, to which she smiled.
"I have leveled up," she replied.
It is quite hard to believe she had gained a skill and level that will help her make ritual enchantments faster and charge them quickly.
She is hiding something, and she is telling me she is hiding things.
Of course, I had guessed it from the first day. Nobody tells no one's their whole secretes. Now, she is openly telling me, and I wanted to sigh.
It is hard and exciting to work with smart people and Caena is one of the smartest I had ever with.
"Good. Finish them quickly, but don't force yourself too much," I said. I need ritual enchantment, but I don't want to work her to death. It will be counterproductive in the long run.
"I won't," she said.
"This is the new ritual enchantment I want. Give me your opinion and the list of materials you want," I added, forwarding the file.
I didn't make the specific list of ritual enchantments I want like before. It is not efficient, despite seeming like it.
So, instead, I have given her a list of effects, I want the establishment to have, and she will create a list of enchantments from them. Once approved by me, she will then turn them into real ritual enchantments.
"I will give you the list of enchantments and materials by the evening," she said, and I smiled.
"There is one more thing I want you to do," I said and slid a small box toward her.
Click!
She looked at me in question, but I didn't reply. Seeing that, she took the box in her hand and opened it.
The moment she did, a great change appeared on her face.
She kept staring at two cores inside the box for a couple of seconds before touching them gently. It took more than a minute for her to open her eyes and she looked at them for a few more seconds before finally closing the box.
There were deep, complicated emotions in her eyes before she hid him.
"These gems, which have an element of life and death, are very valuable. Especially in the form of core," she said before turning to me.
"It is also corrupted with the foreign power," she added, looking directly into my eyes.
I am not surprised. She is a magic practitioner of the magic, which is older than mages and also said to be older than the system itself.
"If I am not wrong, this should be from the dungeon. Incursion-type dungeon, of undead element to be exact," she said, and this time, I am quite surprised.
She was able to find it out, with just a few minutes of examination.
"How do you figure that out?" I asked, to which she smiled. It is quite frustrating, as people employ tactics; I could now see why Carla gets so frustrated when I answer her with a smile.
"I want you to purify them, can you, do it?" I asked her.
"With the right resources, it won't be a problem," she answered, and a smile couldn't help but light up on my face.
Those things are quite expensive. Ethan is still asking about them, in his letters, and willing to pay a high price for them.
"What are you planning on doing with them?" she asked after a few seconds of silence. "I was wondering if you would tell me about their uses," I said, and she smiled.
"These are the cores, with the life and death element. Which makes them very powerful, especially to my class,"
"You could use them for forging weapons or enhancing them. They could even be used in alchemy. Any alchemist will pay a high price for them." She said, and I smiled but didn't move my eyes away from her.
I could feel there was 'but' in her words.
"But I think the best use of them would be using on the establishment. The way your connection formed with the establishment makes these cores perfect things for it,'
"It will strengthen your connection with it and will also increase the power of the ritual enchantments," she said with eyes shining and this time, I am shocked.
I could already feel the changes in the establishment appearing every week. They are tiny, but together, they are a force. They have been playing a huge part in the establishment's business.
If I could increase their power further, with it, I will not hesitate. Especially now when I want to turn the establishment into a day/night brothel.
I am already planning a trip to a merchant state next week and will be taking permission from the Count for it.
"It will be great if you could do it," I said happily, before calming my emotions down. "It won't be a problem," she replied.
"These are not only things; there are a few more things I have, which I hope you will purify," I said and got up before placing three boxes by my chair on the table.
She looked at them in surprise before opening one after another. The more she looked, the more surprised, she would become.
"It seemed like your trip to the Navr wasn't as simple as I thought," she said. "Yes, there were some incidents," I replied, and she smiled.
I didn't even tell Carla about them. Though I am thinking of talking about it with her. That thing giving me nightmares, letting all out of the heart, might help.
A few minutes later, Caena left, and I kept working.
It had been eight months since the establishment opened and more than a month since it had reached its full capacity.
Now, I am going to bring more girls. The girls I have are not enough to make the establishment a day/night brothel.
I have even asked Valentina to open more underground rooms.
With it, nearly all the space below the establishment had been hallowed for the rooms and also some space from the new plot.
A little over an hour passed, and I walked out of my office.
I have to go to the Count's mansion, but before that, I will visit a few places in the establishment.
Soon, I walked out of the establishment through the back and felt the cold wind. It is a good thing; I had worn the jacket before coming out.
On my left is a spa, which had become slightly bigger. I added four more rooms to meet the increased demand. On the right, near the corner, is a much smaller building.
It is in the kitchen. Two weeks have passed since it has been completed and Drev started practicing and teaching in it. Till now, no major incidents had occurred, though there were some small ones.
It didn't happen with Drev, but with the other chefs, he is teaching.
I walked toward the kitchen and with Rapid Legs; I was at its doors. The two guards nodded and opened the gates for me.
I entered the small empty room, which leads to the kitchen. Like every part of the kitchen, it is reinforced. It would be hard to burn it down. With the level of magical material, we have here.
"Adviser," greeted the old man with a magic staff. "Lysander, you are looking good," I said to the old mage, who is standing at the kitchen entrance.
Since I only have two mages, they couldn't be in the kitchen always. So, I hired this old mage from the mercenary guild. He had retired but agreed to work when read the description of the job.
His job is to guard the kitchen and save mages from damage.
He is a generalist, but has good protection spells; he had already proved his worth by saving the chefs from injuries many times.
"Thank you, Mr. Silver," he said with a toothy smile.
As always, he cast a protection spell on me, covering me with a thin brown layer of energy as I entered through the door.
The kitchen is medium size, with everything instrument here made of powerful alloys and crafted by craftsman over Lv 25.
There is also protection enchantment all over the kitchen.
The kitchen wasn't cheap, but seeing how happy it had made Drev, it was worth it. As in this kitchen, he is training the people, who will make the fusion food.
There are five people here. Drev and four chefs learning under him. Technically, there are three chefs seeing Wanda hasn't officially become a chef.
She had gained enough skill to work in the kitchen, months earlier than I had expected and would have been working in the kitchen at the start of this month, but I shifted her here.
Of the four people learning, two are from Drev's old restaurants. One is from our kitchen; he had been working establishment since the first day.
The last one is Wanda.
It is dangerous for her to work here, seeing all people learning has at least a decade of experience, but she has talent and expressed the desire to learn.
I gave her the chance.
I value her more than the other three; she is the one I trust the most and is loyal. Which is the most important thing to me.
I looked at them and saw Drev teaching them. He is working on a red lotus, like an artist, describing the whole process to them and answering their questions.
"Now it's your turn," he said and gave them each the lotus flower.
"Mister Silver," he greeted as he looked up, finally noticing me.
Culinary is his passion, and he gets lost in it quite quickly. Even if he had noticed me, he wouldn't have greeted me, before finished doing what he was doing.
"How are things, Drev?" I asked. "Good. we haven't damaged anything today," he said, looking around.
"The day isn't over yet, Drev," I said, bringing a smile to his face.
I talked to him; he brought me up to date with his progress.
A few minutes later, I walked out of the kitchen and walked to the spa, where there were always people.
The spa had not only become bigger but also has more people. There are now thirty-two people working in it and many girls.
Thirty-two are enough to handle the girls I currently have, but I might need to hire more when the new girls came.
Hun!
I reached the spa and entered inside and saw Maeve in the lobby. "Mr. Silver," she greeted.
"How are things, Maeve?" I asked. "Very good," she replied. Things are good. I get daily reports of the spa from Margaux, and it is good.
The nature of the staff had to become even better since I had fired two people around a week ago.
They were behaving condescendingly with girls. I had warned them and when they didn't change their behavior; I fired them directly. It kind of surprised the staff here and they begin to work more professionally.
I am paying them well, better than any spa in the city, and I expect them to behave professionally.
They didn't have to like the girls or what they do; they only need to do their job. It is what I am paying them for.
I talked to Maeve and looked at the rooms and staff working before coming out with Rena. She is going to the plot next; they have started working on the spa and Maeve likes to be there when they add every new thing.
"You are not coming?" she asked. "No, I have some things to do," I replied and walked toward the carriage while she went toward the construction.