Proofread by Thomas F
Jenna Hilcrest
The carriage reached near the Vanis Tavern, and it was so different from how it was a month ago.
The big stores and vibrant businesses that surrounded the legacy had disappeared. Businesses were evicted and buildings were demolished.
In the agreement, the land comprising the expanded legacy and its surrounding area would be the domain of Greltheaven.
The rubble had already been cleared. Now, it is a blank canvas to do what we want.
They have already started bringing a large amount of material that will be used to build the larger Vanis Tavern. Every day, I would see more and more of it.
My carriage stopped at the compound; we didn't expand it despite the domain of legacy going beyond it.
I stepped out of the carriage, and the guards opened the door for me. They are our guards, but they are wearing a uniform of Vanis Tavern.
Though it also has the emblem of Velvet Garden.
It might be our domain, but there is no need to rub it in the face of the lord. Lord Silver had asked me to evade questions if someone directly asked me about it, and many had.
As I stepped into the compound, I felt the power of the legacy. It's far greater than it was a month ago. It is no longer a grating mess. Instead, visions and emotions of three legacies flow smoothly here, making one feel like they are in heaven.
It is why, even in the early morning, the whole compound is filled with people.
There are gazebos, open tables, and even beautiful tents. Servers are moving around, holding trays filled with breakfast and tea, which are filled with swirling mist.
I was halfway toward the door of the legacy when the middle-aged man appeared in front of me.
He is tall, handsome, with golden blond hair and blue eyes.
"Madam Hillcrest," he greeted, hiding his lust behind the graceful smile.
"Baron Galtmore," I replied with a smile. He is one of the nobles, living in Inam, who was able to escape with considerable wealth.
I don't like the man. He is a hedonist, a womanizer, and someone who will unhesitatingly sacrifice their people and allies to save their own life.
He did that. He was able to escape his territory with a great deal of wealth, while many others lost their lives.
"I have sent an invitation to my party to you and hope you will grace it with your enchanting presence," he said, with words flowing smoothly like a wine.
A charm skill and a powerful one at that.
The skills of noble classes are powerful, and his is above average among those; this means it is very powerful. Unfortunately, it will need to be a lot more powerful to affect me.
"I wouldn't miss it, my lord," I replied with a smile.
Of course, I wouldn't miss it. The Baron is not unique; many nobles are like him. Besides, he is helpful with his wealth and connections.
We do not have to personally like the people or what they do to work with them or get something out of them.
I exchanged af few more words with him before walking toward the Tavern. As I reached the door, the guard opened it and I stepped inside.
It is occupied even more so than the outside. The legacy never closes; people are willing to come even past midnight.
I nodded and engaged in small talk with people as I walked toward the booths at the end, which were shrouded in a mist curtain and guarded by four guards.
They are not legacies guards, but guards of House Thorn.
These four are the only visible ones; there are four more that are hiding.
I could sense them as I could sense those behind the curtain or even those now sitting in Velvet Red. I have access; it lets me feel everything.
I reached the guards, and they stepped aside. I walked through the curtain, reaching the end booths.
Valtir Thorn and Adviser Fisk are sitting in front of Vanis and Mariha, while Miss Alina and Cendan are seated in the booth beside them.
"Lord Valtir, Adviser," I greeted and nodded at Vanis and Mariha, before sitting beside them.
I didn't need to take permission to sit; this is my home. I would have done so if it had been a Lord Thorn out of respect for him, but these two are not him.
I could see it irked them as always, but there was nothing they could do.
"A month had passed so quickly," said Valtir Thorn. His eyes are expectant; he is trying to hide it, but to me it is clear as the day.
"It felt like just yesterday the ceremony had happened," supplied Mariha.
"Since the month had passed. It's time we do our contractual obligations," I said, and Valtir's eyes became excited. I didn't keep them waiting for long.
A moment later, a wooden box appeared on the table with the emblem of Velvet Garden on top of it. It is dark brown and the size of a standard suitcase.
Click!
I opened it, revealing hundreds of bottles of essences. Pure, glittering in myriad colours.
Most of them have a dense mist, which resembles a liquid, but a few bottles contain actual liquid. That is a Grade IV essence that only thrones could produce.
"I have never seen so many emotion essence bottles at once," said Mariha with awe in her voice. Even for a Master, who had seen essence for decades, this is a large number.
She may be the master, but the essence rarely remains in the core. Every month, the guardian would drain it, leaving nothing for the core, much less for the master.
They were looking at it when Adviser Fisk gently cleared his throat. It seemed to Valtir that he was himself.
"It's time, we also fulfill our obligations as well, Miss Hillcrest," said Valtir, and took out a box and opened it. Everyone looked at it, and he let us before he slid it toward me.
"Luminweaver's Core," he stated. I didn't say anything; I barely heard it.
All my focus is on the thing inside the box.
In the box is a palm-sized thing. It is a rhombus-shaped object; one side of it is pale bronze, with beautiful, unknown script painted on it in purple.
The other side is wholly crystal; it is a multi-coloured one that changes colours every moment.
This is not a showpiece, but an artifact; a trinket artifact. It is a name given to the artifact with insufficient power, limited viability, or with high flaws.
Its name is Luminweavers Core.
It creates a construct of light, but it consumes a massive amount of energy to do so. The energy is not enough to justify its use.
I took it out of the box; many looked surprised. They thought I would send it to Lord Silver.
I would, but I want to use it. Lord Silver won't mind.
I don't know how to use it. So, I focused and willed the light to come out. To my surprise, the thick colourful light came out.
I willed it to take a shape, and a moment later, it became a sphere. It is not a perfect sphere, but I don't mind it.
I put my will into it, and it transformed into a pole, then into a crude lantern. It feels good, and I played with it. Yes, people are watching, but I don't care.
I was changing the light to another shape when I began to feel weak.
The information seemed to be accurate; this artifact consumes a lot of energy. I wanted to use aura immediately, but I managed to control myself.
It is not something I want people to know I awoke it. Especially when a man like Fisk is sitting here; he is one of the highest-ranking people in the city and has an aura.
I stopped, and immediately, the light went back to the artifact. I looked at it one last time before putting it into the box and closing it.
"It's a beautiful artifact," I praised and sent it to Master Silver. "It is," replied Valtir.
It is beautiful, but I don't know how Master Silver would use it. It consumes massive amounts of energy, but isn't helpful, unlike the fountain that has saved lives in war.
Which is another guzzler, but every drop of essence we use on it is worth it.
Still, Master Silver seemed to want it. It is an artifact after all, or maybe he is thinking something different.
I am more interested in the one Mariha had in her legacy. We are trying to buy that from her former kingdom.
They left a few minutes later, while I continued with my work, which primarily involved watching. It unsettles them; I can't say, I don't enjoy it.
It is only a few more days before I return to Greltheaven.
The design is in its final phase; I attend a meeting every night with the architect in legacy, which I participate in. Lord Silver talks through me.
He didn't want his skill known publicly. Using me as a proxy helps in hiding it.
Sensing everything is one thing, but seeing everything is another. It is an incredible skill that Master Silver has shared with me.
I could see everything in the Tavern and Velvet Garden. Talk to others, as if I were there in front of them.
I walked around the legacy, which only took me a few minutes. It is a small legacy, smaller than even a single floor of Velvet Garden.
So, when I finished, I spoke with people, shadowed them, and attended a meeting, just like the one I am doing now.
I don't speak much, even when they ask about my opinion. My job is to observe and nothing else.
Once the design is finalized, reconstruction will begin. I will go back to Greltheaven, and another Grade II will replace me.
This job is good, but I liked my old job the most. I miss those days, when I travelled with Alex across kingdoms. Those days were filled with excitement, danger, and joy.
He is coming here tomorrow, and I could barely contain myself. I quickly suppressed the emotions. He is a lord and descendant of an archmage, while I am a lowly whore.
"I am not asking much; I am only asking for ten. I will even take eight," said Mariha, looking at the old man pleadingly.
"I'm willing to give you only three, and even that feels a lot. There are many capable people I want to recruit," replied the old man.
Master Silver had given them a quota of people they could recruit.
These will be people aside from the ones who worked in their legacies. The reconstructed Tavern will require a large number of people, and their current number is insufficient.
Many of the staff of Velvet Garden are going to work here, but we want people, talented people.
These two are old and have been masters of legacies for decades. They have extensive connections and know many capable individuals.
We need such people, not only in the Tavern, but also in the Velvet Garden.
"Don't be stingy, you old rot. I know, your quota is bigger than mine; you could spare me some," she said. Gone was her smile; she was actively glaring at the old man, but he was not one to back down.
"Three at most. Take it or leave it, Mariha," the old man said with the tone of finality.
Every week, more of her people are coming from Nazar. I am surprised by the number.
Those with a legacy find good jobs relatively easily; it could be fair to say that the jobs came to them. I had been jobless hundreds of times.
Both as staff and mistress, with Galtmore being one of the latest.
They are higher levelled, and their classes are powerful. Nobles and powerful merchants love to hire them, but even they couldn't provide the safety and security that it offers to its staff.
Even in the wars, these people remained unharmed.
It made me laugh a little when I thought about that. Seeing how Vris'alud had listed our names as targets they will kill openly, but Velvet Garden is different from other legacies.
"Fine," accepted the old man.
She turned to me for a moment, and I smiled at her. She had asked me to increase her quota, but I told her, 'I am just an observer.'
Her quota might be less than Vanis's, but it is still a good number.
Though how many of them will work will depend on how they do in their training. Once the reconstructions begin, all the staff, including Vanis and Mariha, will be shifted to Greltheaven.
They will be trained there and tested. Only those who passed will be allowed to work in the Tavern and Velvet Garden.
I stayed for a few minutes more before I walked up the stairs. Soon, I reached a door and opened it, stepping inside.
As I did, mist moved. I had insulated it; now, neither Mariha nor Vanis could see in it. Only Master and Grade I could peer through.
It is a small room, beautifully decorated with comfortable chairs.
There is already a person sitting there, a man in his early forties, with a scar across his hands, with one running down his ears to his face.
"I hope you hadn't been waiting for long, Mr. Hardrowe?" I asked the short-haired man.
He is Branrick Hardrowe, one of the top mercenary leaders in Inam.
"Not for long," he replied. Keeping his irritation and anger under control. So, well, that if he isn't sitting here in legacy, I wouldn't have sensed it.
I am twenty minutes late. It was both intentional and unintentional.
The meeting lasted longer than I had expected, but I could have left it early if I had wanted to.
"You have been very helpful to us, and Velvet Garden appreciates that very much," I said, and I could see the relief appearing in his eyes.
Though a moment later, it turned into surprise as the essence of emotion potions appeared in front of him.
More than he had asked for.
We have been cultivating relationships with influential people since the beginning. Not just the nobles, but also merchants, mercenaries, artisans, and other important individuals.
Many lords don't like it, but they couldn't stop us from selling them the emotion essence potions to their people.
Yes, it would lessen their leverage against their people, but it also decreases the pressure on them to supply it to them. Instead, they could keep more for themselves and their army.
This man had provided us with intelligence and also sent support in the form of weapons and ammunition. He is also helping us to poach people from the mainland.
Not only the soldiers, but also alchemists, artisans, and other important people.
"Please thank Lord Silver and madams of Velvet Garden," he thanked.
These potions will greatly benefit him and his company. Emotion essence potions are very expensive, but they are also very powerful, so people consider them a second life.
We sell them to people like him at a standard rate, which is itself a considerable discount.
It fosters relationships. We already reap many benefits from such connections and will gain more as we continue to follow this path.