City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

“With this agreement of prohibitive goods, the negotiations are over,” said Carter with that charming smile and signed the last contract before sliding toward John Santos.
 
I don’t know how he could keep that smile on his face for more than twelve hours, but he is doing it.
 
After long negotiations, I could barely muster to smile; my mouth was already hurting with all the talking I’d done today.
 
“All done,” said John Santos as he signed, and I felt the contract clicked in my mind.
 
“It was tough negotiating with you, gentlemen; I hope both of our cities benefit tremendously from it,” he said, and we shook hands, and a few minutes later, we walked out of the conference room with bright smiles on our tired faces.
 
“It is really unexpected; we have signed more contracts than we had even dreamed of,” said John Santos as the elevator began to take us down.
 
“Total one hundred and three agreements,” I said with a grin, and others grinned with me.
 
What we have achieved today is really great, more than we had thought. 
 
Signing 93% of agreements, we would have been more than happy if we had been able to even sign 30%, but we ended up over 90%.
 
It is quite surprising, even when one thinks about easy access to the merchant city-state through us.
 
There must be some reason for them to sign so many agreements because, usually, things are not this easy. 
 
Others also seemed to realize it, but nobody discussed it; the agreements are beneficial to them and us, and there is no need to think anything further other than increasing the trade of our city and making our businesses thrive.
 
Soon, we got off the elevator into the lobby, which was far emptier than morning, which was not surprising, as it was midnight.
 
Nearly one am.
 
“For today’s success, I am going to throw a party tomorrow at my family's private island, and I will not accept no,” said John Santos as he looked at all of us.
 
I wanted to reject his invitation, but seeing his expression, I nodded. I have built a great rapport with him, especially after the negotiations.
 
There are some permissions I want, and I am sure he will help me; I might not even need to spend the favor I had from Damon Hardt for this.
 
“All of you be ready by the afternoon, we will go to the island by yacht, and I will even invite a few of my friends from the city,” he said with a big smile.
 
The party was going to be big, and I couldn’t help but feel excited about it. I have never been to the private, in here or on earth.
 
Though I always wanted to go, and tomorrow will be my chance.
 
Soon, we walked out and moved toward individual carriages that were already waiting for us.
 
I waved the last goodbye and sat inside, and soon; the carriage began to ride away toward the manor while I sat comfortably, feeling a little sleepy.
 
[Lawyer Level 6]
 
[Lawyer Level 7]
 
[Class Gained: Lawful Suggestions]
 
The text appeared in front of me, and immediately, all the sleepiness wiped away from my eyes, and a radiant smile appeared on my face.
 
I have leveled up in my class, not once, but twice and most importantly, gained a skill. 
 
It is not a normal skill, but one considered very good.
 
It is the first skill that will help me offensively in negotiations. If I had this skill in the morning, it would have helped me tremendously, but it does not matter, as I have the skill now.
 
I closed the window a few minutes before looking at the city through the window, and like a true metropolis, it is bustling with activities, even at this time.
 
Some areas are more active than others, especially the market areas.
 
Soon, I reached the manor, and as I had got out, I went directly for my suit. 
 
I had dinner in the merchant guild with Carter and his team, which was good because of the way the negotiation was going; I don’t think we would have lasted till midnight on an empty stomach.
 
I changed and lay on the bed, and within a minute, I fell asleep.
 
 
Clang Thap Clang
 
Our weapons clashed intensely; I was using all my skills, sometimes together, sometimes alone, as I pressed against Dan.
 
I did not stop, even when Dan hit me; I have gotten used to the pain with instructor David that now I simply discard it.

 
For the first time, Dan is also using his skills, and they are dangerous, every dangerous that in the first hour of the spar, I got hit by him repeatedly.
 
“Good, it seemed like instructor David had been teaching you well. Your movements have become more precise; you don’t dance around like a monkey anymore,” he said, and the blade turned misty and hit me across the shoulder.
 
I did not react much and pressed ahead, moving with Quick Steps and attacking with Consecutive Strikes.
 
Now and then, I would use Heavy Strike, but not as much as those two skills, Heavy Strike, takes more stamina and thus need to be used sparingly, but it is a great skill, instantly doubling the power of the attack.
 
Dan had been impressed with the skill, saying the skill is a powerful killing tool, and it is.
 
Thud!
 
We sparred for three hours before I fell down and motioned through my hand for the spar to be over.
 
Clap Clap Clap
 
“Master Remus, I had heard about your great talent in fighting, and now I have seen it; it is truly amazing,” said Roth as he came clapping.
 
The old man was kissing ass, but it felt good to be praised, and I took it with a smile, which was painful considering Dan had hit on my face; not hard to break any teeth, but still hard enough that I could not move my muscle of my face, without feeling acute pain.
 
I lay on the grass for fifteen minutes before I got up and slowly walked toward my suit, with my muscles screaming up in pain.
 
Roth had offered to put a muscle-numbing cream on me, but I declined. I am not comfortable with the old guy touching me.
 
Soon, I reached my suit and began to apply muscle-numbing cream; I had even mixed a drop of healing potion inside it.
 
Dan is not an instructor; in the flow of spar, some of this moves hit a little too hard. While they may heal on their own, it will take time and will cause a lot of discomforts, which I don’t want.
 
At least not today.
 
So, after I applied the cream all over my body, I rested for fifteen minutes till the pain and discomfort were gone before showering.
 
By the time I had brunch, it was time to leave; I had woken up a little late, and add to that three hours of sparring, an hour it took for my shower and brunch, it was already an afternoon.
 
I sat in the carriage, and it drove out of the mansion.
 
I wanted to use this day for shopping, but John Santos had disturbed those plans by inviting me to his family’s private island.
 
Tomorrow, I am going to use the whole day for shopping; I have already made a list and even added a few things, and I only hope that the money I have will be enough because those things are not cheap.
 
Soon, the carriage entered the port and, in about twenty minutes, stopped in front of the beautiful yacht docked in the port.
 
The yacht is beautiful, a piece of the art covered in lacquered white coat and long masts on which the enchanted script is shining in the afternoon sun.
 
I got out of the carriage and walked toward the yacht with my guards following behind me.
 
“Remus Silver,” I said to guards who were guarding the entrance and moved ahead without stopping.
 
They looked at me but did not stop me, and I climbed into the yacht, where John Santos was already waiting.
 
“Remus, you have taken quite a time,” he said as I appeared on the deck. “I think there are still around ten minutes before we leave, vice-Guild master,” I replied with a smile. 
 
I have come right before time.
 
“Yes, we will leave him fifteen minutes,” he said and turned toward my guards. “Only one guard Remus, the yacht, and the island have enough security,” 
 
“Vice-Guildmaster, the attack of two days ago had filled my heart with quite a fear; please let me have my guards,” I said pitifully while touching my chest.
 
He looked at me for a second before sighing.
 
“Fine, you can keep two guards, but no more,” he said, and a smile appeared on my face. “Thank you, vice-guild master,” I thanked and turned to the guards.
 
There are seven of them; I have intentionally brought more, so I will have more ground.
 
“Dan, Leena stays; rest of you go back to the mansion,” I said; the five guards nodded and walked out of the yacht.
 
Leena is a short hair woman in her early forties; she is tall and lean like me used a rapier. 
 
According to Roth, she is also the most powerful among the guards and was an adventurer before retiring and taking a job as a manor guard.
 
I walked onto the deck and met others who had already started drinking.
 
“Come, Remus, drink it; we deserve it after such a successful stressful,” said Locke as he handed me the glass of golden wine.
 
“Cheers then,” I said and clinked the glasses with him, and took a sip. The wine was smooth and went down my throat like a turn before turning to warn my stomach, giving me an amazing feeling.
 
We are not the only ones; there are quite a lot of people on the yacht that John Santos had invited.
 
I mingled with them, talking and laughing, and soon, the yacht began to move out of the dock.
 
“Remus, come here,” I was talking with the woman Locke knew when john Santos called me. 
 
I walked toward him, where he was talking to a bald, middle-aged man wearing diamond studs.
 
“Waris, this young man is Remus Silver; he is sharp in business as well as in law,” introduces John Santos, and bald looked at me; I could feel him using skills before he stopped, and his eyes lit up.
 
“A silver,” he said as he looked at me carefully, “Remus, this is my good friend Waris Scent; he is a seller of indentured workers,”
 
“You can every type of person, from blacksmith to chef, even the kind your business needs,” he said, and the smile on my face had brightened up further.
 
Slavery is forbidden in the empire, but the lesser form of it still exists. Indenture; many people in need or some other circumstances indentured themselves, and those contracts could be bought and sold.
 
Like I had done with my brother, who sold me the girls' contracts.
 
“A pleasure, mister Scent,” I said as I shook the middle-aged man’s hand. “A pleasure is all mine, young Silver,” he said, and we began to talk while John Santos moved to talk to someone else.
 
As John Santos had said, many sell everything, including prostitutes.
 
“You should visit my store, young silver; just yesterday, a new batch of prostitutes arrived from the herald.”
 
“There is even one group, who are above level 20,” he said.
 
“If I have time, I will surely visit your store before leaving Namdar,” I said with a smile. 
 
I talked to the man for a few minutes before moving to the other people on the yacht and such; an hour passed by when suddenly the conversation of the yacht died down as faint pressure enveloped the yacht.
 
Everyone looked at the distant island in silence.
 
In the Namdar islands, people consider the island of Namdar to be the biggest one, but it is not. 
 
The delirium island is.
 
This distance is three times bigger than Namdar island; inside, it is even bigger, tens of times bigger.
 
That distant island is one of the most dangerous places in the world, an extreme magic region. As the name implies, the magic is extremely concentrated there and creates wonders.
 
That place is where the powerful monsters lie, powerful enough to contend or even kill Helena Salazar.
 
The high magic there also expanded the region within, that it is many times bigger than it looks from the outside. 
 
Courageous or idiot adventurers flock there, and those who return alive not only come with levels but also great fortune. Everything there is precious, from the blade of grass to common soil.
 
It is so dense with magic that alchemists and mages buy everything that comes out of there.
 
There are seven such regions across the empire, and hundreds exist worldwide. 

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