Absolute Beast Dominion

"So you will be sending your merchandise every month?" Leo asked the feather shop manager, Oman.

"Yes, and please be assured. Every task will be handled by these women. Their names are Rhea, Freya, and Clara. They are very experienced in this field, and the only thing required from Sir Leo's side is living space, which can be constructed inside the shop itself."

Leo thought about it for a moment.

"What about their salary?"

"That will be paid by me when they come to retrieve the merchandise every month," Oman replied.

"And what if more workers are required in the shop? Not professionals, but labourers. For that, I am ready to allow you to employ people from my territory. Of course, I won't be the one paying them."

Oman understood what Leo was referring to.

"Sir Leo, from this day onwards, these women are a part of your territory. Even if they manage an independent shop from outside the academy, they are allowed to hire help from people around here. And yes, as you guessed, you don't need to pay anything for that; it will be handled by them," Oman explained.

"The only time you are supposed to pay them is when you commission any sort of work. Just so you know, they are great at embroidery and feather work."

At that, Lily's ears perked up.

"That's great. I can guarantee they will never sit idle then. Even if there aren't many customers right now, I can give them some work that will let them earn extra income."

The women were naturally overjoyed to hear Lily's words.

"Thank you for your grace, My Lady," all three thanked Lily. Extra income was never a bad thing, especially when they needed to send money home.

With the discussion over, Oman handed the women their identification plates, officially making them part of the Aurelius Kingdom under Leo's Territory. The plate was a small, rectangular piece of black metal that seemed to be half technological and half magical. Necessary details such as name, place, age, and more appeared when clicked. It wasn't a smartphone; it was more like an identity card.

So that's what people from outside receive as an identification mark... Leo inferred. For students like him, there was the academy badge, so the plate wasn't needed for the next 20 years.

"Shall we discuss the land and revenue tax?" Oman asked.

"Uh..." Leo looked towards Lily, who immediately stepped forward.

"I handle such matters. Let's discuss it through proper paperwork."

With that, their discussion began, and Leo was left as little more than a bystander, much like the women beside Oman.

He observed Lily for a few minutes, and after realising she knew exactly what she was doing, he excused himself to check on the other things.

As he walked, he tried to gauge the strength of everyone he came across.

But there was no noticeable difference in anyone. He caught sight of Cindriss and Arkvyr making their way around the territory while cautiously avoiding the traps that Naelith had warned them about the night before.

Cindriss seemed to be doing it for Arkvyr's sake because she knew he would surely run around in his free time.

Elsewhere, he spotted the 17 maids already receiving a lecture from Lyswenna as she assigned them the empty sheds. Since the number of sheds was limited, they were told to stay 2 or even 3 together in a single shed. Fortunately, that wasn't a problem since the sheds were spacious.

Aina, Sylva, and Mira were preparing meals as they chatted cheerfully amongst themselves. Leo happened to catch a few snippets of their conversation.

"I heard some elves talking about how Miss Lily hurriedly pulled Sir Leo back to the territory," Sylva said.

"And they haven't come out yet..." Aina added, already imagining things.

"And did you see that Wyvern—"

Leo simply walked away. He had no use for knowing what kind of rumours were spreading around. At least, he didn't see anything wrong with these rumours when they were true.

Along the way, he spotted many Gnomes busy with all sorts of work. Some were expanding the farm and planting wheat seeds and vegetables, some were trimming the trees, some were collecting dead and fallen leaves to throw into a fire pit, and, most interestingly, Leo noticed a few lone Gnomes looking for opportunities to discreetly inspect the Golem statues he had constructed and later deactivated due to mana wastage.

"Good, I guess it's time for me to make actual use of their abilities."

As he watched the Golems, Leo recalled a certain individual who had been given a Golem as punishment and training.

'Aeila.' Leo called through the mental link that was active 24/7.

'L-Lord?' Aeila immediately responded.

'Meet me near the big tree. I want to check your progress.'

'Y-yes!!' Aeila replied nervously.

Leo had given the Golem to her exactly a month ago. Today was the day he would check her progress.

When Leo arrived, Aeila was already there, anxiously looking around with a 3-meter-tall Golem standing silently beside her.

"No size difference? No, wait... Looks like it has grown by a few centimetres," Leo muttered.

He also noticed many marks on the Golem's body that had been carefully mended by hand. Aeila seemed to have been taking good care of it.

"How does this Golem perform? Have you checked its capabilities?" Leo asked.

Aeila nodded repeatedly like a chicken.

"Yes, Lord! This Golem can easily defeat High 2-star beings and can contend on equal terms with Peak 2-star ones. I even asked those 3 blue-haired girls to examine it. But it seems weak to water, slashes and blunt atta—"

"Speak slowly!" Leo interrupted when Aeila began talking at the speed of a train.

"Okay, leave the strength part. What about the progress in communication? Has this Golem gained any sort of consciousness?"

Aeila shook her head.

"My Lord, I can tell there is some primitive consciousness, but at the rate it seems to be developing, it would take nearly 6 months before proper communication can be established."

Leo nodded slowly, deep in thought.

6 months is quite a long time... but then again, I guess it's similar to the birth of a new being. Well, let's look at the positive side: Howl can upgrade the Golem to a higher rank, meaning Aeila won't need to work with a low-levelled one.

He then turned towards Aeila.

"What about you? Have you made any progress?"

Aeila nodded rapidly.

"Yes! I can feel that in a couple of weeks, I'll be able to give this Golem some simple commands that it can execute."

Leo raised a brow.

"That's good. Keep working hard."

Saying that, Leo took something out of his Spiritual Space.

It was the 1-ton Basalt Iron he had received from the Ashen Tribe Lizardmen.

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