Chapter 126: Urgent meeting

"Sir, it's great that you are back now. We have some urgent things to talk about. I was asked to bring you to the conference room as soon as possible."

Dashing towards me only to lower his head and pass the message, one of the many workers of my faction looked anxiously at Ayda beside me.

"Ah, don't mind her. Anything that you need to tell me, she is privileged to hear."

While I was aware of how frantic my days would become with not only the constant progress of development of my magic stone business but also the growing interest of the entire world in the dungeons, I still hoped that I would get to show Ayda around. 

"Understood, sir. I also don't want to impose on you…"

The troubled expression on the worker's face was more than I needed to understand the source of his anxiety.

"Don't worry, we will head there right away."

Grabbing Ayda's hand without even a shred of hesitation, I pulled her into the insides of the mansion. Even today, few weeks ever since the construction of the faction house began, the noise of the huge machines and the crowd of workers mixed together, creating kind of a specific background noise that constantly accompanied everyone in the area.

In the end, I was the one to blame for this situation. Even before the construction of the far wing of the mansion concluded, the construction companies affiliated with families that ended up siding with me were swarmed with orders for other buildings, further down in the area reserved for my faction. At this point, it wouldn't be an overexageration to say that I ordered the construction of an entire town!

"So this is how your home looks in the light of the day… I didn't really have the time or focus to take a proper look at it before, but I think I can fathom what you wanted to say by claiming that this world is more advanced than mine."

For the longest while, Ayda simply followed after me, allowing me to pull her in whatever direction my heart would desire. Only once she made up her mind did her words throw some light at what was currently going through her mind. After all, in the middle of the day, right in the relatively public space, we couldn't mix our auras to read each other's emotions, as that would pretty quickly lead to quite quirky yet dangerous events.

And as little as I cared for peoples expectations forcing a celibate over me, fucking out in the open was a bit more than I could stomach if I were to be found out.

"Keep in mind that I didn't mention that to put you down. While our general technology is on a level unimaginable for you even after you saw a bit of this world, the same could be said about your world and magic. It's developed far further than anything we managed to come up with in the short span of just a year ever since magic appeared in our world."

Using the fact that the corridor we were walking through was nearly completely empty, I didn't bother hiding our intentions by using cryptic names for stuff. In the end, even if I wanted to do so, I would have to talk it through with Ayda in advance, so that she would actually understand what I would be speaking about.

"But still, those magic stones matter you brought up earlier… It is the perfect argument behind one thing that I noticed. You can adopt the knowledge from our world in just a few years, but doing the same in my world with the knowledge from yours… I doubt even a century would suffice."

Shaking her head, Ayda turned silent for a moment. And as much as I wanted to somehow cheer her up, no smart way of doing so appeared in my mind. Because the only thing that I could reply with to what she just said, would be to nod my head in agreement.

"You know… this is just a stupid theory of mine, but I believe that magic, as great as it is, ultimately stalls the growth of any civilization capable of using it. Once you can achieve certain basic things with magic, it would be just unreasonable to look for a more complex and more expensive way of doing so. And while it would be completely rational to give up on trying to invent a lighter in a world where everyone can light a fire with magic, it will make it impossible to develop a flame thrower."

As fake as my example was given how lighters most likely had absolutely nothing in common with flamethrowers outside of the fact of operating on fire-related principles, it was still good enough to pass through the idea that I wanted Ayda to notice. After all, one would develop by tackling the existing hardships and spreading the way of cheaply doing so. 

In a world where food was abundant for everyone, no one would bother with figuring out farming. In a world where everyone was super social and sharing, there was no need for money in the first place. In a world where one's fists could smash the mountains out of existence, no one would bother inventing firearms. 

"That actually makes sense. As great as magic can be, it just makes things way too easy. If it gets to be introduced before the world will properly develop…"

Before Ayda could finish her words, our journey finally came to an end. SIlencing down as we stopped before the huge, glass doors of the conference room, Ayda cast a quick glance at me, before depriving her face of all the possible emotions.

After all, she still had a role to play before all those important figures of my faction. 

"Let's go in."

Muttering under my nose, I pulled on Ayda's hand as I pressed the doors open with my free arm.

"Sir."

Nodding their heads in greeting, the officials of my faction wore grim looks on their faces. From the looks of things, there was actually a reason why a messenger was dispatched to fetch me.

"Everyone, before we begin, let me introduce a help from the headquarters, bishop Ayda. I hope that not only everyone here will get along with her, but that you guys can accept the fact that in terms of authority…"

Taking a short break to slightly raise the tension, I smiled as I finished.

"... she is equal to me."

Opening the meeting with a shot of such magnitude, I managed to silence the entire room. No matter what kind of important matters they wanted to discuss with me, the appearance of someone that I believed to be on my level was too groundbreaking for them to just accept it.

"Sir, with all due respect, but we are not following you because of the faith alone, but mostly because of your personal qualities, ideas and strength. As much as we would like to respect your wish here…"

As expected, only one person dared to even speak up against my wishes. Pavlo's father, Jeff Baskar. Being the leader of the first family that I joined hands with, the main pillar of the entire faction, he alone wielded sufficient authority to question my decisions without obtaining the support of the rest of the council.

"I might surprise you here, but I'm quite happy that someone had the balls to protest."

Sending a wink to the middle-aged man, I looked to the side, at one of the less important officials that got the seat in the council just for the sake of appearances.

"Sir Kette, if I might ask, would you try to attack her? She might be my woman, but there is no need for you to hold back."

Smiling from ear to ear as I proposed this idea, I could feel a slight disturbance in Ayda's emotions. Tightening my grab on her hand, I leaned towards her ear before whispering.

"Just don't wreck the room. As soon as you are able to stop him, it will be enough."

Just as we talked about it a few moments ago, the earth was far more developed in terms of secular technology, but it was Ayda's world that reigned supreme in terms of the sophistication of magic. While there was no denying that I already reached a certain level of proficiency in witchcraft, I had no doubts that if Ayda were to ever fight with me seriously, then without regaining access to that apocalypse technology of mine, I wouldn't have even the slightest chance of winning.

"So I just need to stop him from attacking me? Are you sure you don't want to ask everyone in the room to jump at me at once?"

Leaning her head to the side, Ayda threw a look of pity at the man that was unlucky enough to be chosen for this presentation of her strength.

"Nah, it will be fine. So, everyone, I would love to tell you to watch with care, but I doubt you will even be able to realise what will happen."

With all of what I needed to say already pronounced, I let go of Ayda's hand before stepping back, pulling one of the chairs with me and sitting down. Even though the outcome was fairly obvious to me, I still made sure to fill my face with the look of expectations.

"Okay then, here I go!"

Not willing to betray my wishes, Kette stood up before suddenly freezing in his place. The next moment, tears appeared in his eyes as he started sobbing. Before anyone could ever figure out what was happening, his cry turned into a crazed laugh, as the man started hitting his fist against the table in a poor attempt to quell his laughter.

"Okay, that will be enough."

Sending a meaningful look to Ayda, I could see how her influence over Kette's emotions broke, freeing the man from the clutches. Looking over the faces of the men gathered in the room, I could tell that this slight showcase of power was enough to put them back in their own, respective places.

After all, while swinging one's sword and casting fireballs was impressive, defeating the opponent without even moving a single muscle was the pinnacle of what one could call edgy and astounding.

"First of all, your excellency…"

Bowing his head as he stood up, Jeff finally addressed Ayda in the proper way.

"I would like to apologise for ever doubting you. Or rather, I hoped for such a showcase to happen to quell any possible voices of opposition in the future. But now that's done, we need to focus on the topic that surfaced recently, forcing my hand in gathering everyone in here."

This time, it was the older Baskar's turn to slow down his speech and raise the tension in the room. With his eyes moving past the faces of everyone in the room, past Ayda's face and finally glueing to my own stare, this middle-aged man finally revealed the cause for the ongoing meeting.

"Your excellency, everyone… I believe that the Sarate family started making moves in regards to the recently appearing dungeons."