"Ten days," I said.
Less than two weeks remain before the undead descend on us.
We are making preparations, but would have liked to have more time. Unfortunately, we didn't have that; we only have ten days.
I didn't get up immediately. I remained on the bed, looking at the legacy.
Most of the floors are closed, but they are not empty. From Velvet blue to store floors, there are people—craftsmen, working on things.
From blacksmith to cobbler, everyone is there.
Less than 10% of the craftsmen have left; there is a provision in the new agreement between Vris'ald and the Merchant state regarding special-grade craftsmen.
Which is what craftsmen working in the legacy are.
As long as they registered with any guild in the merchant state. They will have free movement.
Means, they could move out of the city, even after the undead capture it. They won't also be getting killed and turned into undead.
The undead kingdom spares craftsmen and artists. It is their policy.
Which is a very intelligent one. If they kill the craftsmen and turn them into the dumb undead, where will they get a new talent?
They can't produce and train all the talent in their kingdom.
In fifteen minutes, they will stop, and their stuff will disappear.
Even they don't know where their tools go. They appear when they begin, and they disappear after they finish. We use the vault to make them appear and disappear.
I looked at the craftsman; I could see the ones that belonged to Eva and the ones from the art collective.
My eyes soon stopped on a man. He is not old; he is in his early thirties, entirely focused on the task at hand.
A knife.
A kitchen knife at that, but it is of incredible quality, which not even Bastar could manage. He was pretty good before, but improved steadily till he became the best.
He is also an enchanter; that is his main class, evolved from the mage.
It took me a few months to take notice of him, as there were a few more people who could forge as well as enchant, and they were better than he was.
We noticed him because of the way he understands the mist.
He seemed to understand it on a deeper level as he uses specific emotions in it during the forging and even makes changes to the enchantments based on it.
This ensures that his pieces are of incredible quality. Drev is crazy about them, as are Miss Cain and others who use his scissors and other tools.
It will be hard to believe, but weapons are his specialty.
I turned away from him and looked at the others, before turning off the skill and getting off the bed.
Fifteen minutes later, I was walking underground while Legacy healed any damage it had suffered with Instant Restoration.
We may use a method that allows them to work from anywhere, but it damages the place.
Thank god, I have Instant Restoration to heal any damage, the legacy suffers, or doing this every day would have been difficult.
Three hours later, I walked into my office in the legacy.
"Master Silver," greeted Jenna and Tara. They are in my office, along with Caena and Margaux.
"How was the journey?" I asked. "Good, we have finished all the objectives we had gone for," replied Jenna, but I was more focused on Tara's nod.
Jenna was unaware of the hidden element of the mission.
The mission was to collect the parts of the aspects from those legacies, which we would turn into seeds in the hopes that they would form a whole aspect when the legacy advanced into Grade IV.
I sat down on the chair, with my expression turning serious.
"I am glad you both have returned; the Velvet Garden needs you more than ever," I said, turning the mood sombre.
I am sure they have seen the things happening.
Over five hundred girls had left the Velvet Garden, including madams and trainees. Yesterday, another Grade II madam had left.
Now, there are only four Grade II madams that have remained.
Cath, Danielle, Gloria, and Senar.
"We will help in any way we can," replied Jenna. That's good because I need you both," I said to them. "Jenna, you will return to Velvet Garden," I ordered, and she needed to.
"Tara, I am officially elevating you to Grade II," I added.
She had been offered it many times, but she declined, and we respected her wishes. However, we can no longer do so. We need her to step up and take responsibility.
"Ok," she accepted, and it filled me with relief.
These two aren't the only ones. I had also brought Andrea back to the legacy yesterday.
I could have elevated some from Grade III and trainees, but I didn't. I want to see their loyalty, and the undead are the great test.
I am absolutely sure of these three's loyalty and know they will not leave, no matter how hard things become.
Take Jenna and Tara.
On this trip, they were approached more than twenty times with an offer. If I were in their place, I don't think I would be able to resist.
A few minutes later, Jenna left with Margaux after giving me a report, leaving Tara and Caena in the office.
"I brought this," said Tara, and a moment later. She placed three vials in front of us. Seeing it, surprise couldn't help but appear on Caena's and my faces.
"We didn't ask for you for this," said Caena. "You didn't, but I thought it might be useful," she replied.
Each of these vials contained a drop of blood. We didn't have to guess whose blood it is. I could feel the familiar power from them when I focused the power of my legacy on the vials.
A few seconds later, the surprise wore off, and confusion appeared before it turned into a smile, and I shook my head.
I know how she gets blood, and one of the masters was a woman.
"You are right, it is useful," said Caena, taking the bottles.
Our negotiations with Winking Lantern fell through, but it could be beneficial with the other two Grade III legacies. One might enter waning in a few years.
"I am glad you got it, but don't take such risks," I said to her. "It was no risk," she replied with a smile, while I shook my head once more.
This girl takes every seduction as a challenge.
Even in the legacy, she will only sit with those whom she finds challenging. There are very few who could resist her charms; it is hard.
She left, and I turned to Caena.
"With the blood, creating a seed of the aspect wouldn't be a problem," she said. "Yes, but first, focus on what's important!" I replied, but she only smiled before getting up and walking away.
The door closed, and I returned to work. I have three more hours before I leave for the city hall.
I looked at the file. It is a legacy account, and we are earning a good income. It excludes the amount I get from the emotional essence.
We don't sell it for the money.
Girls are leaving, but we have not let our patrons feel that. We had increased the shift of the girls from an average of six hours to ten hours.
If the girls kept leaving, we might need to go for twelve hours or even more.
The girls might be leaving, but Velvet Garden has never had business this good. People are coming in droves, from the Empire to the Merchant States.
Paying a significant money for every table, seat in the theatre, and appointment in the spa.
They only have a week, because in the last three days. I am going to seal the city. The legacy will remain open; I am not going to close even when undead attack, but only those in the city will enjoy it.
It is generating a substantial amount of money.
It is approximately 25% more than our average, which is significant, considering we were already earning a substantial amount before this surge. People would always come here.
I read through it all before turning to another file and then another. Finally, I had come to the last one, which brought sparks of anger to my eyes.
It's about the staff at the college. Teaching staff specially. 80% of them had left, and over 90% of those had gone to the Transcendent Pleasure.
She opened the college to train her people and poached my teachers.
It made me angry. Not because they had left, but because it required a lot of effort to get those teachers to teach the girls in a certain way.
Now, they were going to bring it that way to her.
The contract may restrict the knowledge, but not the way they teach or the very people we choose.
We fired a lot of people. Those that remained are very good, not only in the teacher, but also in the fact that they didn't show all the prejudices they have.
They keep it professional.
Which might not sound like much for those of the earth, but here it is. It took a lot of effort from us to take the teachers to that standard.
Now, I will have to do it all over again. Just thinking about it had made me feel stressed and angry.
I had finished the file and took a deep breath, and then another. I kept doing that, but it didn't seem to help. So, moved to the other thing that could help me.
The next moment, the aura came out of me and began to form in the shape of the bark.
It formed within a second, but no, it didn't transform into the shield. Nor, I had expected it too; I am just practicing to calm my mind.
I don't want to train General Hiren while affected by these emotions. He is in a very sensitive state of aura. Even small things could significantly affect him.
I tried again and again with Bark Shield, but failed every time. I tried it for the tenth time, but I got no result. So, I shifted to the Sap Pulse; the strengthening method.
The fractal formed the next second, but like the root shield, there was nothing.
I dissolved it and created it again and again. I didn't get any result, not even a hint, but I kept trying and trying, until I managed to do it ten times.
With that, I turned to the last, root mind.
Hun!
The aura moved, and a fractal formed. I was about to dissolve it and try again, when to my shock, the method materialized.
I felt like my mind had merged into the roots. Anything that comes at me will flow through the roots.
Saying I am shocked now would be an understatement. I had not been practicing to understand the essence, like I do every day, countless times.
I was just practicing to calm myself before I went to train General Hiren when this happened.
Still, it made me happy. I had learned another aura method, and this one will be just as helpful as the offensive method or even more, considering the liches are the masters of the soul.
Hun!
I focused on it and understood it clearly when I sensed something was amiss.
"Jon!" I said in alarm and immediately activated Eyes of Master, while simultaneously reaching for the spells to rain them down.
When I stopped. Seeing Jon and the man in front of him.