Proofread by Thomas F
Mariha Baelir
"The last of the invitations had reached the person," I informed.
I am meeting in the legacy room at Vanis Tavern. Well, not Vanis Tavern; its name had been changed. It will take me a while to get used to it.
It is extremely rare for a legacy to change its name, and I had not thought the old man; I mean, this girl would accept it.
Masters rarely do, but here it was necessary.
It's not a Vanis Tavern anymore, nor is it Mariha's Inn nor Velvet Garden; it's something uniquely different. It's much grander than any of those two legacies and different from Velvet Garden.
I like it in its current form, the power it gives me.
My inn was good, but it was nothing compared to this legacy, much less Velvet Garden.
Here, despite the second holder of control and commanding only 25% are of it, I have much more power than I had in my original kingdom, and I have barely started.
Powerful people come to me, fawn over me, send me gifts, and invitations.
That is just the acceptable people. People I have an affinity for are completely different.
It used to happen in the kingdom as well, but not to this degree. This legacy is a completely different beast compared to my little inn had been, and it hadn't even been inaugurated yet.
"Lady Mariha?" I heard someone calling out and looked to see that everyone was looking at me.
"My apologies, I was distracted," I apologised to the teen girl and the other two.
Alina Lindgren will be the head of legacy, now that Vanis has completely stepped away. I will be the Vice-Head, with full control over 25% part of the legacy.
Even this little girl won't command me when it comes to that part; only advise.
Both of us are Grade III Principal Administratives, but she is in the upper Grade III, while I am in the lower Grade III. She is technically my boss.
I don't like it. It's fine if it had been her grandfather. I respect that man; he had birthed the legacy, but not this young woman, who is only afour years my junior.
What was Silver thinking?
I thought he would keep her as interim leader, with control over part of the legacy, while I held mine. He did give me control over mine, but then made her my boss.
I may have control over mine, but she is my boss; he had made that very clear.
She is sitting on the head chair, with a man in his sixties on her left. He is Nilman Croft; he is keeping his old position as head manager.
To her left is my son, who will be a vice-manager.
I was planning to make him manager of my part, but when Silver offered him the position of vice-manager of the whole legacy. I asked him to take it without hesitation.
He seemed to have impressed Silver to be given this position.
I hope he will impress him more, so that Silver will offer him a position in Velvet Garden when it is reconstructed. That is where the real power is.
"I was saying, if we had missed anyone? Especially from Lord Silver's list," she asked.
Invitations are my responsibility.
"No, we have not missed a single person," I replied. I looked at the list tens of times and had it checked by others. It is not something I want to miss.
"What about the staff?" she asked.
The staff had been training in Velvet Garden for the past few months. Only those who passed were sent back here; many didn't, including a few of my core people.
I met the madam, but she said the decision comes from the top, which means Silver.
"The rest of the staff will be leaving Greltheaven tonight; they will be in Inam tomorrow," I replied and turned to Croft.
"All preparations have been made. After they report tomorrow, I will assign them their duties," he replied.
"And when will Miss Poots be arriving?" the teen girl asked, turning to my son. "In three days, she has been delayed due to functions she was organising at Velvet Garden," he replied.
The in-house event manager of Velvet Garden is responsible for our inauguration.
She had made a couple of trips, and her people are here, but she is Greltheaven. She was supposed to come today, but Velvet Garden is closing in a few weeks, so it's booked to the brim.
There are events on its roof in the morning, afternoon, and evening.
"Inform her of her responsibility and the consequences she might face if the inauguration didn't go as planned," she said firmly.
There is a little anger in the teen's eyes, which is understandable.
We will be introducing the legacy to the world at the inauguration, and it needs to be perfect. We want people to talk about it for months and years to come.
One by one, we covered all the topics.
Soon, my son and Croft left the room, leaving only two of us. "Have you heard who he will be sending?" I asked the most important question.
I am talking about the envoy from Velvet Garden. There is going to be one.
They will be permanently stationed here.
Until now, he had given us the freedom he had promised. He had sent a person before, when the legacy became a pawn, but recalled her after a month.
"No, even Madam Caena is tight-lipped about it, but she said, we will get the name after Lord Silver returns to Greltheaven," she replied.
I feel envious of her connection with Caena Aris; she had trained under her.
Even I didn't get that privilege.
"Let's hope it's someone who does not like to interfere," I said. To that, she nodded.
The one from Velvet Garden will have a lot of power. I have seen how much Silver trusted the whores, and I hate to admit it, but all of them are very capable women.
Like others, I used to think they got the position because they fucked Silver, but only one of them did that, and she is the most capable one.
A few minutes later, I stepped out of the room and walked through the long hallways, with each leading to the grand halls.
The legacy is massive; never in my life did I think I would have a legacy as immense as this. Even when I dreamt about my inn becoming a throne, it was not even half the size of the area I now control.
This place had cost a great deal of money, which made Lord of Inam complain, since he is the one financing it.
Well, the bank is financing it.
The agreement stated that he would finance it, but it didn't say that he couldn't get the money from the bank. I heard he made the same deal with the bank that Remus had made.
The only thing the bank got was a reputation for financing legacy.
To those banks, it is more important than any interest, as they could brag to their clients for decades and centuries. As long as the legacy remained standing, or even after it.
I looked at the pocket watch and hurried with Dark Steps.
The legacy is currently sparsely occupied, with only a few staff. Tomorrow, the rest of the staff will come, and in two weeks, there will be people everywhere.
There is a thick air of anticipation in the city.
My sources in the city administration mentioned that many nobles, merchants, and powerhouses have shifted to the city because of it. Its lord is making full use of that.
Silver is trying to do the same and has succeeded after the last battle against the undead, but his success couldn't compare to Inam's.
He is having greater success with common people, but the Lord of Inam is not trying to reach them.
There are enough common people already in the city. It could even be said that he is trying to send a few away because ghettos have appeared in the city due to the influx of refugees from across the empire.
Soon, I reached long, golden, cream colored doors. The guards are standing by them.
They are my guards, some of the people I trust the most.
When I came here, they came with my family and me. I trust them with my life and to guard the secrets that open behind the door.
They bowed without a word and opened the door for me. I stepped inside a beautifully decorated grand parlour.
In my inn, I used to use a small, hidden room behind the kitchen to conduct this business, but here I went grand with a pastel wall, golden lines, and very expensive art pieces.
With the people I am planning to meet, it is like testing fate, but this is the legacy.
Only the idiots will try to steal from them.
My son is there, sitting on a cream-colored sofa, while two people opposite him are covered in smoke. One could not see their features, even Lv. 40 ocular skills find it hard to do that unless it's a powerful one.
It's my legacy skill, Visage of Smoke.
My master skill, Ruffians' Refuge, provides greater secrecy. Even in a legacy, there is no such thing as too much precaution.
"Lady Mariha," they greeted as they got up. "Miss Westbrook, Mr. Kales," I replied, taking their names openly; something I had avoided in my inn.
There is not just the privacy skills and legacy protection here, but also a very powerful privacy enchantment.
The strongest in the legacy.
They were surprised but didn't say anything, even though they weren't pleased about it. They were not in a business where people could openly say their names.
Especially in a meeting like this, where the nature of the business is not so legal.
'Their wishlist?' I asked my son as I sat beside him. He informed, and I nodded before turning to the two, who were watching me carefully.
"Aside from emotion essence potions, I can connect you to the people who can sell you the enchanted blades and armors, Grade III psychedelics, and other things," I said to them.
I could see their expressions light up. Though they quickly controlled themselves.
The skill makes them feel their whole body is masked, which loosens their caution.
I could see through the skill as it is mine, with the faint emotion ripples, I could sense with legacy. It pretty much tells me what they are thinking.
"And emotion essence potions?" the woman asked, and I smiled. "It is a precious commodity, which I could provide to a select few. It is our first time conducting business, and we have no relationship, no trust."
"Until we have that, that commodity will be off limits," I replied. There was no disappointment, but a joy.
I had told them that they could get their hands on it as long as they built a relationship.
My class is Matron of Veiled Inn.
I am a facilitator, broker, and fixer. I have been doing that most of my life, even before my inn had turned into a legacy.
My job is to connect buyers and sellers, be it arms, drugs, or assassination; nothing is off limits. Well, Silver has set a few limits on it.
I do it for a fee and favours.
I had a vast network in the kingdom, but I had abandoned it all. I have become big, and legacy had become my shield; without it, I was vulnerable.
There was no other choice than to leave, abandoning everything I had built for over half a century.
It was painful.
When I came here, Lord of Inam warned me against doing it here, but with Silver's orders, I have started slowly building the network here.
He is my boss, not Ralis Thorn, but I am staying away from Inam, Namdar, and other powerful territories.
Focusing on smaller cities to build the connection and information network.
"When can we meet the other party?" asked the man. "In three days," I replied. My son will be contacting them as soon as the meeting is over.
In three days, when both groups arrive, my people will facilitate the meeting and will control everything.
Nothing will be allowed that would help them determine each other's identities. It is to protect the parties, but most importantly, to keep the power solely in our hands.
If they don't know who the other party is, they can't deal with them behind my back. If they want the deal, they will have to come to us.
Give us the things we want in exchange.
Silver didn't tell me what he wants, but it's not hard to guess. Still, I plan to get the clarity.
"Good," replied the woman.
After a few minutes, they walked out of the parlour, and from there, my guards walked them toward the secret entrance.
"We made good progress in the past few months, but if we had been a little more aggressive, we could have made more," said Cenden.
"We have to take it slow and build a strong network before we go aggressive," I reminded.
The wars in the empire had created quite a fertile ground for the underworld. So, even if we take it slow, it won't take us long to build a network.
People had been contacting me since I came here. Everybody needs something, and now that the legacy is ready. I am willing to provide it to them.