City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Chapter 35: Level Up

“The four categories of rooms should work well,” I said while writing in my diary as the carriage moved toward our new destination from Valentina’s office.
 
“If it had been a month ago, I would have said it would not work; people would not pay such money to eat and drink in a brothel, but the reality in front of us,”
 
“So, there is a high chance that rooms will work,” she said as she looked through the window. 
 
I know they will work; people always pay if they find the services desirable, especially to impress women and feel special.
 
This is not a new idea in this world, many brothels use it, but with the changes I am planning, mine would be the biggest hit.
 
Soon, the carriage stopped in front of the two-story building, which had a sign ‘Elese Cain,’ but that sign now is little dusty, as if its proprietor wasn’t taking good care of it.
 
With how big the order was, Elese had closed down her shop temporarily; she had no other choice. As every bit of time and energy she had, she was spending on completing the order.
 
She is doing quite a good job; in the past twelve days, she has finished up ten dresses, and her pace is increasing further.
 
Click!
 
“The shop is clo” said a young man working on the cloth, but stopped midway, seeing us.
 
“Mister Silver,” he said, leaving the cloth he was cutting. “Good afternoon, Jesse. Could you tell Miss Cain that we have arrived,” I said to a young man; he is Jesse, Miss Cain’s nephew.
 
“I will tell aunt right away,” he said and left.
 
I looked around and saw a lot more people than the last time, fourteen people working on the different parts of the dress. 
 
“Mister Silver, you should have informed me of your coming; I would have been more prepared,” said Elese as she appeared.
 
“There is no need,” I said before looking around, “Is there somewhere we could talk more privately,” I added; she was startled but nodded.
 
“This way,” she said and took us to the upper floor, into what seemed like a messy living room.
 
“Sorry for the mess,” she said as she cleared the pieces of cloth, “It is fine, Elese,” I said as we sat down.
 
“Since you have personally come here, mister Silver, there must be something important?” she asked. 
 
I smiled at that, and instead of answering, I took out the check and slid toward her. Seeing the number on the check, her eyes couldn’t help but widen.
 
It is a check for half a million crowns, and with it, I am paying her the full amount of the contract, despite her completing less than 10% of the order.
 
“I am increasing the order, doubling it,” I said, and I could see her faintly shake before she was able to calm herself down.
 
“The time?” she asked softly, “The same, but the order might increase even more,” I said, and her eyes became a little unfocused hearing that.
 
The new girls are coming soon, and I will not have them wear old dresses; they will also get their custom dresses. This order is just the beginning; it is going to get quite big, and she will have to do it in a limited time without sacrificing quality.
 
“I will need to hire a lot more people and a bigger space,” she muttered softly. She had a habit of doing that when she was a thing.
 
“So, will you be able to do it?” I asked her. “Yes, I can; I will need to hire a lot of people, but I will be able to do it,” she said a little loudly and turned to me.
 
“For such quick order, the old price will not do,” she said, with her becoming very focused.
 
If I decline, she will not do it, but I have no intention of doing it.
 
“Of course, how about five thousand and five hundred crowns per dress? It is sufficient, right?” I asked with a smile.
 
I could have chosen the other boutique; with such a big order, even those snobby boutiques wouldn’t have been able to turn me away, but Elise’s designs are great, and most importantly, she captures my vision.
 
Whether it is skill or instinct, I don’t know, but she is doing a great job; those ten dresses she designed are amazing, capturing the natural qualities of the girls perfectly.
 
Fifteen minutes later, we had signed a new deal.
 
We got out of the shop, with Elese sending us off to our carriage; we did not have anywhere else to go other than return to the establishment and wait.
 
Wait for banks and my brother's response; even if the response comes negative, I have other options. 
 
Soon, the carriage walked through the gates of the establishment, and a few seconds later, we walked out of it.
 
The guards at the door gave the letters to Carla as we entered the hall, where there were already a few unknown people looking around with convection and unconventional things in their hands.
 
They were from the Nielson Guild, doing their surveys and taking the measurements; I talked to them for a few moments before going to my office.
 
There are four letters have come, but two of them are the most important. The first one is from the bank and the second one is from my brother Reed.
 
Rip!
 
With my heart beating fast, I opened the first letter; it was from my brother Reed. If he rejects my offer, I will likely have to go to one of the cities of Meldhorn for the girls.
 
I began to read the letter, and the more I read, the bigger my smile became. He agreed to transfer all the contracts of the girls, a total of sixty-two girls, with the contract of each costing me fifty thousand crowns.
 
A total of three million and a hundred thousand crowns; will empty nearly all I have, leaving less than ten thousand in my account.
 
I immediately begin to write the reply; I want to finalize the deal today.
 
After writing, my brother and I wrote to my man in Redfawn, asking him to handle everything, including giving freedom to those who want to leave, with severance pay, which I had hiked to five thousand.
 
It might seem too much, but it is not; I need the girls, who are all in, and it has benefited me a lot till now.
 
Those two who left were not the only ones who the poachers have approached; more than twenty have asked been approached, but only two have left, despite the promise of huge money, and I count that as a big win.
 
After I finished that, I moved to the letter sent by the bank, which brought an even bigger smile to my face.
 
The bank had agreed to give me the loan, and they have not even halved the amount as I thought they might. 
 
It is such big news.
 
Click!
 
I was smiling ear to ear when Carla walked and arched her brow in question when she saw me smiling brightly.
 
I did not say anything and just handed the letters to her and read them; her eyes had also gone wide.
 
“These are the best news we hoped to get,” she said as she read the letters, but suddenly expressions changed for a moment before returning to normal. 
 
Making me feel like I had imagined it, but I knew I hadn’t.
 
“I am going to the bank,” I said and got up. It hadn’t been half an hour since I had returned, and I was going out again, but it was important; I needed to have the money in my hand.
 
It took me one and a half hours to return to the establishment; it felt good to have money again, and with it, the expansion will begin smoothly.
 
…
 
I returned a few minutes before the gates of the establishment opened; I went inside through the back entrance before going back to my office.
 
Soon, the gates of the establishment opened, and I watched from the windows as usual.
 
I made my rounds through the establishment before going to my room to sleep.
 
 
[Souteneur Merchant Level 7]
 
The text appeared in front of me as I woke up, bringing a huge smile to my face. It had been a while since I had leveled up in my base class.
 
I immediately opened my class window without wasting a moment.
 

 
In the past week, I had leveled up on both my Warrior Class and Lawyer Class. 
 
The Lawyer Class was just one level behind yesterday; now, it is two levels behind. I don’t know if it is true or not, but it is said that base classes should always be higher level than other classes.
 
If any classes go over it, then it slows down the progress of all classes, especially the base class.
 
All three of my classes had leveled up in these seven days, but not a single one had given me a new skill. The last skill I got was from Lawyer Class, and that was nearly two weeks ago.
 
Now that base class has advanced, I have got an attribute point, and I desperately want to use it on strength or vitality, but I know intelligence would be wiser.
 
I did not waste any time and added the attribute point to the intelligence, taking it to ten, the same level as the charisma, and immediately, I felt its effect.
 

 
I felt my thoughts were getting faster; thinking had never felt so effortless as it is right now.
 
I took the book beside my nightstand and began to read it, and despite the resistance, I was reading it at three times faster speed than normal, the same speed I read the legal documents.
 
I am sure now I will be able to read legal documents even faster; not only that, but my other skills would also benefit from it.
 
All of them, even combat skills, faster thoughts help in reacting faster; it is common knowledge.
 
I stared at the screen for another minute before getting up and going to the bathroom. I have yoga to do and, after that, the training with instructor David.
 
It is going to be painful today, seeing he is taking it a notch higher today.
 
 
 
THUD!
 
I hit the ground hard, with every part of my body screaming hard in pain. I had not felt such pain, even on the first day of training, as I am now.
 
Unlike the first day, today, there were not only hits but also cuts, hundreds of them across my body.
 
It looks quite bad, but it isn’t.
 
Instructor David had said that they would heal on their own quickly; it is one of his skills that heals the injuries he caused to his student heal fast.
 
“You know, you could have been a little merciful,” I said to instructor David as I lay on the grass without having any energy to move; even talking is quite a struggle.
 
“I told you what you will suffer, and you accepted,” he said, “Do you want me to take it down a notch?” he asked with mirth in his eyes.
 
“No,” I declined.
 
The pain was temporary; I could bear it, given the benefits I am having; not only am I regaining ease with the sword fast, but I am quickly mastering and stretching my skills beyond their limit.
 
The progress made me happy, as I would have to depend less on others to protect me.
 
As my business grows, things will get dangerous; my father was assassinated. My Grandfather had been attacked by an assassin more than ten times; it is a hazard of doing business in this world.
 
The more your business grows, the more enemies you will make.
 
It took fifteen minutes for all the cuts to heal, and only after that I got up, nearly collapsing due to jelly legs.
 
As I stood up, I limped toward my room, with pain coming from every movement I made. 
 
It will be hell to climb the stairs.

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