City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Proofread by Thomas F

The diamond-red saber floated in front of me, and glittering fire formed layer upon layer around me.

They are the most beautiful things, but also destructive. A moment of inattention would be enough to melt the whole cave that I am sitting in.

As I thought like that, the flames tried to move. I calmed my thoughts and controlled them with the power of my aura. It still tries to influence me; I could feel its desire to burn everything.

It has emotions, and that is not as bad a thing as I used to think when I first got the blade.

I tried to suppress those emotions for the past eight months. I am trying a completely different approach.

Now, I don't suppress them. Now, I use the lighter approach, which is also the most dangerous one. I take them and move them in a direction I want.

Like right now, they want to burn everything. I use that emotion to let them blaze where they are.

It's tricky and dangerous, and will be even more so in the heat of battle, where emotions run high. These emotions may not be sentient, but they are intelligent.

They know when to strike.

It is why I have been practicing constantly for the past year. I spent four hours training my aura and the artifact; they are my greatest strength.

I am practicing even harder this week. I do that whenever he comes.

The knight will come in a few days, and I need to do better than last time. Despite the advantage of the artifact, I could not touch him.

Lord Silver is also growing stronger.

In the last spar in Greltheaven, he defeated me without using his artifact, just like General Stone. Both Julian and Hiren are giving me tough competition.

Even my subordinates. Especially Jarvis, Orok, and Bandstone are improving fast.

Minutes passed, and I continued with practice, forming more layers slowly, until I reached the nineteenth layer of fire, which is my limit.

Now, I am trying to maintain it, cajoling the emotions. So fire won't get out of control and burn it all.

Minutes passed one after another, and my whole body began to sweat. It's hard to maintain it, but I am doing it. I need to last longer than last time, even if it is just a second.

I struggled when I noticed the large rune lighting up.

Seeing this, I felt relieved, but also frustrated. The next moment, I unraveled the layers and put them back into the saber, until only a single layer remained.

I controlled it, rolling over my body, vaporizing all the sweat.

I don't have a 'presentation skill', I envy those who have it. It makes life so much easier, especially for a woman.

I got up and sheathed my saber before walking toward the large stone door of the cave and opening it. My mage was waiting there; the rune was a signal to alert me.

The artifact is dangerous, and it could seriously hurt anyone.

"General, Mage Aldridge requests your presence." She informed. "Thank you, Captain," I replied and moved, my thoughts spinning around.

If Mage Aldridge called me in the middle of the day, that means it's important; otherwise, he would have informed me in the evening when we regularly talk.

A few minutes later, I reached him and saw that mining had stopped.

It never stopped. It continues day and night. Hardt wants a lot of Drelthar. So he would be ready to export it as soon as he got permission from Greltheaven.

He was talking to the people when he noticed me and quickly walked over.

"What happened?" I asked. "Their sensors and skills have detected life signatures," he replied. I stilled for a moment before sighing.

Our spells and enchantments didn't work, but these people have special tools that work on stone like Drelthar.

They also have special classes with specific skills. They are far better at detecting things than we are. I don't like it, but I had no choice but to rely on them.

"How sure are they?" I asked. "I looked at the data myself," he replied. I closed my eyes for a moment before opening them.

"I believe they should still be deep inside?" I asked, and he nodded. "According to them, if we keep digging at the speed we are, focusing on a specific area, we will reach them in two to three weeks."

"There is a good chance monsters will sense us and meet us before that." He followed up.

"What about their levels and species?" I asked, and he shook his head. "Currently, they are only sensing life signatures," he replied.

It is likely shardmaws, and these will be powerful. They would not survive inside Drelthar without sufficient strength.

"I did not expect we would find monsters in the Drelthar; it's very rare, given that monsters are magical species and eat magic crystals."

"They should not be there, which brings so many questions."

I looked at Mage Aldridge, lost in his own thoughts. He is excited; I am not. It's my people who will have to fight these monsters.

With the strength we are predicting, it won't be an easy battle.

"Have you informed Lord Silver and the Governor?" I asked.

"Yes, they want to dig for the monsters. They believe the sooner we deal with this problem, the better it would be," he replied.

I am not surprised. Lord Hardt wants to sell the Drelthar, while Lord Silver wants to see what the end of this mine is and deal with it.

"Keep me updated," I said and walked away.

He walked back toward the technicians; we are mining Drelthar at three spots. Now, this spot will be focused on reaching the monsters.

Soon, I was out of the mine and moving toward the city.

A year ago, there were barely any people on this road, but now there is a wide paved road, with carriages and people moving toward the mines and the city.

Lord Hardt is aggressively opening and selling the mines. 90% of the city's open mines have already been sold.

He could afford to be aggressive with a constant stream of people coming into the city.

The population of the city had already reached over a hundred thousand.

The crystal mining is not a profitable business, at least for lower-grade crystals, from what I have been told, but because of the localization of processing and the increasing sales to businesses in Greltheaven.

It has become profitable.

It wouldn't have been possible without the initial efforts of Lady Knox. The new governor, Lord Hardt, became even more aggressive with it.

It is helping the army, although not directly, but indirectly.

With Panar pulling more of its weight, the dominion is spending more money on the army. Things will become even better after the city starts selling Drelthar.

Recruitment into the army had slowed, but spending had increased.

There is better gear in the hands of the army, more enchanted weapons, and a better diet, among other things. Even our salaries had increased.

They are now far better than even the Empires.

That has now become the biggest draw. The officers are contacting us for employment on their own. Yes, there is danger here, but it is also true in the empire.

Here we have the undead, but they soothe that worry with the higher salary.

Besides, here, the chances of survival are higher because of the increasing number of priests and essence potions.

Soon, the carriage reached near the city, and I saw that the biggest point of disagreement I have with Lord Hardt.

Panar, like all the region's old cities, is built on a large green spot. There used to be farms around it once upon a time, and Lord Hardt wants to do that again.

I didn't agree.

I am not against it entirely, but I do not believe it is viable at this time, given that the defense is top of mind. We have enemies, and they will attack us. If there are farms, I will have a problem defending the city.

I would have to raze them, and that will be a waste.

This is his jurisdiction, but since it is related to security, he needs my permission, and he will not get it until I believe we are secure enough.

Soon, the carriage reached the city and passed through the gates. A few minutes later, it stopped in front of the city hall.

"General Azalia," greeted Lt. General Jarvis. "General Jarvis," I replied as I got out.

With the merger of Barony's forces into the dominion, we also got their officers, including Lt. General Jarvis, who formerly led their forces.

Now he is my second-in-command here.

He is a capable man with extensive experience. Especially dealing with politics. That is not surprising; the nobles he needed to deal with were the council of baronies.

We walked into the city hall before stepping into Damon Hardt's office.

"Governor, Lady Hardt," we greeted. "Generals," they replied.

"So, they found the life signatures," said Lord Hardt as we sat down. "Yes," I replied.

"Just when I thought things were going well. Something like this happens," he said, sounding frustrated. I nodded; it is indeed frustrating.

"It's not an entirely bad thing, Governor. All the times before, we found the monsters; we found loads of Grade IV and V crystals."

"While they couldn't be compared to Drelthar, they are still valuable, and according to Mage Aldridge, we might find something different from usual crystal, given the nature of Drelthar," said Jarvis, making Lord Hardt's eyes light up.

"You are absolutely right, General," replied Lady Hardt, while the man nodded.

Good, his mood improved.

"The levels of the monsters would likely be high while we make the preparations, but I want to be cautious and close the mine when the time comes," I said, hoping he wouldn't react too badly.

I do not need his permission for it. Security is my domain, but I need to inform him.

"The Whole mine?" he asked. "If there is a Grade V monster and if it somehow escaped. It will be a disaster; we don't want to see that happen," I replied.

If it happened because of our mistakes, we could say goodbye to our positions.

He understood that as he nodded.

"Fine, but I hope you keep it to a minimum and open the mine the moment you finish dealing with the monsters," he said. "Of course," I replied.

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