Chapter 158 – Two Way (1)
Felix opened and closed his eyes. After checking the contents of the given budget several times, he couldn’t hide his shocked expression.
“I doubted my eyes at first, too. Since the amount was much higher than our initial estimate, we went back to the person who allotted it and asked again. But they said nothing was wrong with this. Rather, if they think that the operation cost of a Magic Tower is not enough, they could organize a budget and make a new offer to us.”
This made his eyes tremble. A monthly budget of 2,000 gold was stated in the document, with an annual budget of 24,000 gold. It was a huge amount. According to the contents of the document, eight thousand people would be provided with enough money each month to live for a year.
But they couldn’t just accept this unrealistic amount. People called magicians money-eating monsters. Unlike aura swordsmen, who grew through physical training, magicians needed a large number of expensive items, such as books and mana stones, to rise to higher circles.
According to public knowledge, it was said that at least 5,000 gold was required in the process of becoming a 3rd-circle magician. That was to say, as the circle of a magician rose, the money required would also increase exponentially.
So, despite being a neutral force, the Magic Towers developed friendly relationships with nations. Their basic operating expenses were supported by the forces at a national level, and in return, it was a way to strengthen them in case they needed help.
Actually, at first, noble families also showed signs of accepting the Magic Towers. However, regardless of how wealthy a noble family was, monthly operating expenses were not easily granted, and it was impossible to extend their relationship unless they received something in return.
Because of this, most nations end up cutting off their ties with the Magic Towers. As a result, the fastest-growing Magic Towers became national treasures, and the Kronos Empire demonstrated how powerful a nation could be by maintaining seven Magic Towers.
‘… I was prepared to have a small budget.’
When he left Frank, he didn’t expect much support from Dmitry. Even though Dmitry was said to be the richest family in Cairo, supporting them with thousands of gold each month was too much.
What the Phoenix Tower wanted was the ability to embrace fire. With that alone, they thought Dmitry was doing them a favor, and for the time being, they only wanted to stay in Dmitry and rise to the top.
The Phoenix Tower was fine with just 1,000 gold a month because of the small number of people it had, and large-scale towers received more than 10,000 gold a month.
But Roman was giving them 2,000 gold a month?
At that moment, a plan to sell more magic items in the future seemed like a good idea.
‘Roman Dmitry. He didn’t accept us without reason. He must have decided that he could handle us enough, and careful consideration was done before taking Phoenix into Dmitry. 2,000 gold per month is enough to run a normal Magic Tower.’
Felix didn’t know the truth. After Dmitry’s mining changes, Dmitry literally possessed most of the money in Cairo. Unofficially, they were the richest in Cairo, and the wealth they possessed wasn’t something a baron family could have.
In addition, they recently formed an alliance with Marquis Valentino. He wasn’t a man of lies, and he sent tons of money to Dmitry while saying that the more money Dmitry had, the better.
2,000 gold per month? It was just a small amount. Dmitry was rapidly growing while remaining hidden from the public eye.
And….
“… tower master. I think you should come and see this.”
The support of the Dmitry family wasn’t just limited to money.
Pointing to a large land, Chris said,
“We plan to initiate the construction process in a week. And as you can see from the blueprints, this has been designed to handle at least one thousand people, with the hope that the tower will expand its power in the future. And basically, we secured some land in advance to place the needed facilities for the Magic Tower. We completed the blueprint after doing research on our side, so if you feel like anything is lacking, please inform us.”
“… it is enough for now. No, this is too much.”
Felix looked around at the vast land. Phoenix was going to have a home here? It felt like he would faint in the middle of the day.
The Frank Kingdom. For the sake of attracting Phoenix, many of their promises were broken. At first, they decided to build a Magic Tower comparable to the one in the Empire, but they disputed everything and said a Magic Tower didn’t need that much and built a regular one. But what they couldn’t do as a kingdom was provided by Dmitry—a noble family.
Chris held the blueprint. With just one quick glance at the contents, he could see how much effort the people had put into this design.
He was genuinely curious. A huge budget and the construction of a Magic Tower—it was perfect. He chose Dmitry without expecting anything huge in return, but this place felt like Utopia.
Chris said,
“From what I have seen, there is no particular reason for the Lord’s favor to you. Before Mr. Felix, all those who swore allegiance to our Lord experienced the same thing. With the help of the Lord, I made progress as a swordsman, and Kevin’s family managed to get away from the slums and live in the city, and everyone else who followed our Lord is receiving something good for their work.”
And not a single subordinate of Roman found it strange to receive these things. They didn’t care once the Phoenix Magic Tower came under their Lord.
Felix was at a loss for words.
And Chris looked at him.
“You will get used to it in the future. Just for the sole reason that you swore allegiance, our Lord is the type who values his people more than anyone else, and in the future, we will live for such a person.”
Around the same time, Hans had a busy morning.
“Young Master Roman’s routine shouldn’t be off even by a little bit when I am gone. Young Master Roman always trains with the sword for about an hour after finishing his morning work, so you need to bring a towel and some lukewarm water for him to wipe off his sweat. After guiding him to his meal, you need to organize his schedule and inform Young Master Roman about what he needs to take care of. And after that…”
There was no end to Hans’s explanation. Hans’s successor, a servant named Murphy, was eagerly noting all of this down.
Actually, Hans didn’t want to bring in a successor for his work, but Roman’s workload had increased so much that he knew he alone couldn’t handle it. So he put his heart and soul into selecting a new one.
Many wanted to serve Roman, and Murphy was the one he chose over a thousand candidates. He was a brilliant graduate of the Adelian Academy. Murphy was an elite in his own right, but normally, people wouldn’t want a rookie to work for them.
‘Why are there so many or’s in the schedule!?’
Hans’s work, from morning to night, was all for the sake of Roman Dmitry. Normally, he would have followed Hans and watched him work, but today was the day Hans had something important to do.
The child of Hans’s only son—Hans’s granddaughter and Harrison’s daughter—was going to celebrate her birthday.
Hans had planned to finish all the work for Roman and then visit his son, but Roman told him to take an early leave. Roman had actually asked Hans to leave the day before, but Hans had been stubborn in not abandoning his work the day before.
After passing on the work to Murphy, Hans prepared his things and began to head out.
‘My pretty granddaughter should like dolls.’
He was excited. Harrison lived in Adelian and not in Dmitry. With the support of Hans, he graduated from the academy and soon turned into an adult, settled there, and started his own business.
And after ten years, Harrison became the head of a company that supplied food ingredients. It wasn’t a large enterprise, but it was well-known in Adelian.
And it was the birthday of the only granddaughter of such a son. A treasure he would never want to see hurt.
Hans made his way to the mansion’s gate, intending to travel quickly in the wagon he had rented.
But…
“I was waiting.”
“Hans. Get into the wagon.”
In front of the gate was a different scene. The wagon that Hans rented was a cheap one, but the wagon in front of him now was dazzlingly bright. And Dmitry’s soldiers were waiting there.
Hans, who initially thought it had nothing to do with him, looked around and was puzzled when he couldn’t see his wagon.
“… were you waiting to pick me up in this?”
“Yes, this is Young Master Roman’s order.”
Stubborn Hans. Roman had prepared a gift for him when he finished his work.
Just like Hans, Harrison also had a busy day.
‘I will finish all the deliveries by morning, so I can attend my daughter’s party at lunch.’
Even if it was his daughter’s birthday, he couldn’t take a leave. Harrison organized the food ingredients that had to be delivered in the morning and then quickly delivered them to the customers through his employees.
And one of them was the important trading task. Arriving at the mansion of Count Adelian, he called out cautiously,
“We have brought the ingredients.”
Jordin—Adelian’s manager and butler—was a picky person. He would always point out if the quality was even slightly off.
Perhaps that was why, when delivering here, Harrison’s expression was never calm. He knew that if Jordin wasn’t satisfied with the ingredients, doing business with Count Adelian would be tough, so even if this brought in a little loss, he would always bring the finest ingredients he had.
But Jordin’s reaction was odd.
“It is your daughter’s birthday today, right? You must be busy, so leave them and go quickly.”
“…what do you mean?”
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“You man. You have been working since dawn to celebrate your only daughter’s birthday. I, Jordin, am not one to hold you here today. Leave the food ingredients there. I will take care of them, so do not worry and go so you can finish the other tasks you need to do.”
He was flustered. Jordin wasn’t that kind of man. He couldn’t accept this as a favor and thought there was some ulterior motive behind this.
‘Is he going to change their supplier?’
He was sure that if he left the things here, even if Jordin himself told Harrison to leave, he would hold him accountable for neglect.
“No. I will bring them inside right now.”
“You!”
“I have to do this work. I cannot pass this on to Mr. Jordin.”
He didn’t care and called his men to help move the food ingredients inside. Jordin was shocked. Realizing Harrison wasn’t listening to him, he called the family servants.
“Call the servants right now! Help Harrison move the food inside! We have to finish this work as soon as possible so he can return to his daughter’s arms! Hurry up and help the man!’
This was so strange. Nothing Jordin said or did felt bad. So Harrison was able to finish the job early with the help of the servants.
‘… what is this?’
When he finished the work, Harrison couldn’t hold back his shock. Jordin wasn’t the type to offer help, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t figure out what was happening.
But what could he do? The work was done, and he could finally head home to his daughter. It was time to meet his precious treasure.
It was time for the party. It was going to be held in a modest place. He planned on inviting people to celebrate his daughter’s birthday and open some presents.
That was the plan this morning, but it changed a little as soon as he got home.
Tuk.
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He dropped the present he had prepared for his daughter.
A large outdoor party area was set up in front of his house. There was a lot of food on the table, including some he hadn’t seen before. There were even people he didn’t remember meeting before who carried food to the party.
And that wasn’t all. On the other side, there was a stage with classical music. A series of scenes he’d never seen before was unfolding in front of him.
“… what the hell happened?”
No matter how much he thought about it, something felt horribly wrong.
