Chapter 157 - Work

"What do you think, your highness?"

I look at the massive ship in front of me for a few seconds before nodding.

"Good. The rune is tightly put together, and there is no gap between them. You guys are doing a good job. And how long does it take to enchant this ship?"

"Three days, your highness."

"Hmmm… How many of you are doing this job?"

"Twenty of us, your highness. Ten of us carve the rune, seven keep a steady supply of mana, and three of us watch the mana flow."

"I see. I will leave the ship enchantment to you then. I need another twenty ships being enchanted. In a week, another batch of magicians will arrive. I want you to be the leader of that group. I want you to show them this project."

"Of course, your highness. We will finish this project as fast as we can."

"Don't rush it. I did need all of them by the end of the day. Keep your usual pace. I did not want you guys to be exhausted in this job."

"Of course, your highness. Thank you so much for being so kind."

"Think nothing of it."

They did not need to thank me for common sense. A happy worker is a productive worker. This saying did not exist in this world. The noble here think that the harder the worker works, the bigger their productivity will be.

That is true but forcing them to work twenty hours a day is no good. Human is not a machine that can work twenty-four hours a day. Hell, even a machine needs rest as well.

There is also the problem that runic craft needs concentration. If the magicians did not have any sleep, how could they concentrate on doing their job? Not only that, the Runic craft is like an experiment with a chemical substance. A small mistake can cause an explosion.

"Where should we go next, my lord?"

"Hmmm, Lucina is in the barrack, right?"

"Yes. Lady Lucina is in the barracks teaching the new blood."

"Poor soul. Anyway, seeing Lucina is busy, I think we should go to the warehouse area."

"Of course, my lord. Would you please get inside the carriage, my lord? We will be departing in a few seconds."

I get inside the carriage and close the door. After I sit down on the seat, Richard begins to drive the carriage. I can see people look at my carriage with awe as the carriage. I wave my hand at the people I pass by and continue to do so for a few minutes before I decide to close the curtain of the carriage.

"Richard, have you heard something suspicious around the kingdom?"

"Yes. There is a group of people that want to sell Mukka in this kingdom."

"Mukka?"

"Mukka is a crystal that makes people swallow it, feel good, and hallucinate about something good. However, there is a side effect to the people who swallow this crystal. This crystal is highly addictive, and the people that did not eat this crystal for more than a month will die."

"Where is this crystal coming from?"

"The first Mukka is created in the Central Continent."

"Yes and No. I already take care of most of them, but I know there is more."

"Use all the power you want but make sure to eradicate the people selling this crystal. Make sure you interrogate them and ask them where they get this crystal. We cannot stop the trade without cutting the head first."

"Of course, my lord."

Drugs, huh? I did not need that kind of thing being sold inside my kingdom. Even without it, I already have too much work to do, and with that thing being sold inside my kingdom? There will be more headaches.

It looks like I need to focus on the barrier. I only need a little more preparation before erecting the same barrier I have around Sea Dragon City in the size of my kingdom. The only thing I need to do is to place the anchor around my kingdom.

My kingdom is the size of… maybe the USA but just a little smaller, meaning I need almost all of my mana to erect that barrier, or maybe my reserve is not enough even with that.

Urgh. I guess I need to do it little by little. The first layer will be an intent-based barrier that kills the people that have bad intentions. Selling drugs or spying is included in this layer. This barrier will cast a Killing Curse on anyone that has bad intentions.

That should be enough for now.

However, I need to make the second layer faster because killing a spy is good and all, but Richard needs intelligence, and the spy coming here has the intelligence he needs to protect the kingdom even more.

As for the third layer… Well, there are a few Curses from Black Family I want to try.

"My lord, we are here."

I snap from my thoughts when Richard informs me that I've arrived. Richard opens the door, and I get out of the carriage, and the first sight I see is a massive building. This building is the main warehouse where the food is ready to be exported.

"Good morning, Your Highness."

I look to the side and see a lion beastman walking toward me.

"Good morning, Andar. How are you?"

"I'm doing great, your highness."

"Good. Good. How is the situation?"

"Like usual, your highness. However, there is a problem with the merchant being banned by us. They try to use a group of thugs to intimidate us. Lucky for us, the guard here quickly apprehends the thug before they could do anything. The thugs have already been captured and placed in jail."

"Of course."

Richard, Andar, and I walk inside the warehouse. When my feet touch the warehouse ground, I can feel the change in the air. The temperature dropped significantly.

"As you can see, the warehouse is full of goods that are ready to be shipped. To your left is the one that the Green Turtle Merchant group has already ordered. They are the merchant group coming from the Southern continent."

"We have a customer from the southern continent?"

"Oh yes. The merchant from the southern continent is the most polite merchant we have. They know that we are selling them our goods at an honest price and even giving them a discount when they buy in large quantities. Because of this, they decide to stay humble and even thank us for selling them our food at a low price."

"I see. If they are really polite, make sure to take care of them with our high-quality goods, will you? As long as they respect us, we will respect them."

"Of course, my lord."

I look to the right and see people placing goods from the outside, and one of them caught my attention.

"Oh? An octopus?"

"Of course. Their meat is delicious, a little bit chewy but delicious nonetheless."

Andar chuckled a little when he heard me saying that.

"You are right, your highness. Octopus is considered a pest by the human fisherman, but to use it was a delicacy. Humans found it too chewy, but to us, it was a perfect texture. We also feed it to our children who just grow their teeth. It was the perfect food for them."

"Huh. I never knew that. Can I take a few of those Octopus? It's been a while since the last time I ate one of those."

"Of course, your highness. I will send some men to prepare it for you."

"Good. Now, let's continue."

After saying that, we continued the warehouse inspection.