Chapter 128: Unexpected idea

"I will arrange the meeting then. But that doesn't mean the matter is settled yet. We still need to discuss…"

Taking a short moment to look deeply into my eyes, Jeff breathed out before continuing.

"… the reasons behind the sudden moves of the Sarate, why they are so keen on cutting us out of any possible dungeons and what should we do ourselves to secure the place, before other powers will gain interest in it. I think Sarate joining the fray is a great wake-up call for all of us."

Jeff's words made perfect sense. Especially his last sentence managed to shake me. In the last few weeks, my main point of interest was completely outside of the factional agenda, centred around the stones on earth and Ayda's safety in her own world. And as important as the development of this magic stone business was, the number of sayings about putting one's eggs in a single basket proved that this kind of tactic was not the safest one around.

"Let me start from the end of what you said. This situation indeed forces us to accelerate our plans. As such, I would like to introduce the idea of not hiring people directly, but creating missions that anyone could fulfil. The parties that will excel at doing so, would be promoted and sponsored, only spreading the fame of our solution. In other words, I would like to suggest establishing what the younger generation might know from the novels as the adventurer's guild."

As silly as it seemed to be, it was a viable solution to the problem of personnel. With all the secrets that my faction had to keep from leaking, introducing more and more people to it just to claim the ownership of the southern dungeons would quickly lead to disastrous effects. Rather than that, outsourcing the problem seemed like a much better idea!

"Wait, what?"

This time, it was the younger Baskar that reacted to my words. With his hands tighened into fists, it was clear that this idea perfectly resonated with him

"As I said, if this idea were to come to a fruition, we would need to establish quite a lot of rules. Starting from the basic outline of what we take responsibility for and what we would not, what would be the exchange ratio for the spoils obtained in the dungeon under our control, how many people can enter it and in what intervals… Just thinking about the workload necessary to establish something like this makes my head spin…"

In the end, it was all about scouting the dungeon to learn its patterns and then establishing the rules exploiting the natural way in which the dungeon would operate.  Without learning everything about this place, I would be unable to effectively control it. 

And it was always the easiest way to fight with great powers, by amassing the initiative of the many average people. Compared to what a family like Sarate could pay for, introducing a system when everyone could profit was the only viable choice. This way, I would be able to obtain all the things that I wanted from the dungeon, without the cost of maintaining an entire army to explore and protect it. 

"Your Excellency, I think this is a great idea."

Bowing his head low, Pavlo exclaimed with agitation. Taking a quick peek at the documents he held in front of himself, he then raised his head with determination written all over his face.

"From the reports of the several advance parties that we sent so far, the dungeon can provide more than enough wealth to entice the common people to flock into it. As long as we will be able to retain the control of who enters it and where are the spoils sold…"

Taking a little break to cast another peek at his papers on the table, Pavlo quickly raised his eyes back on me. 

"We would be able to hide the real source of the magic stones, set the general price for them and take part in setting the global trend once the world will learn how to use those stones. In other words, no family in the world will be able to offer as many spoils as those who will adapt our system and prices. What's more, the potential price of the magic stones will be even above the non-magic ones, generating a huge profit for us even on this prime market of the resource. With the added profit from the technology of processing the stones…"

Pavlo didn't dare to finish his sentence. The implications behind his words were simply too great. Ever since a while ago, the problem of money appeared. With the insane spending caused by the construction of an entire city at once, with the number of employees and believers growing by the day, my backers were quickly draining their pockets.

Occupying the city and taking a lot of profitable businesses under the protectorate of the faith turned into a great source of funding for my faction, previously fully controlled by the city itself. But even this sudden influx of money and valuables of all kinds wasn't enough to offset the current financial situation of the Boruta's cult. 

The current problem was all about this window of time, from when the money to support my endeavours would completely run out, to the moment when our investments would finally start paying off. As long as I could somehow scrape by until then, money would no longer be a problem in the foreseeable future. 

What I had to focus on, then, was on scrambling all the possibilities that I could find to obtain more funding or to hasten my plans. From what I heard in advance, at the current rate, we only had a month. 

But rather than saving the money and trying to prolong it, I decided to drastically cut that time.

"I do believe that the business of setting this kind of enterprise would allow us to hasten the process of creating the market for the stones. Right now, we are the only ones capable of pouring such a market with a high-quality product at our own, preferred price. That's why, rather than trying to sacrifice our current progress for the sake of safer development, I believe we should invest everything that we can so that in a realistic time-frame we could force the entire world to jump at the magic stones."

Speaking calmly, I cupped my hands together only to rest my chin on them once I finished explaining the situation. Obviously, this was one of those times, when I actually couldn't easily influence the end decision. This wasn't my money that I talked about spending. It was the assets of the people gathered in the room.

They already invested a lot into my faction and now they had the right to decide what their investment would be directed towards. 

In this meeting, the topic of the dungeon was practically limited to me and Pavlo. Both of us enthusiastic about the idea. Our words wouldn't appeal much to this gathering of the old gangsters and mobsters. 

"Isn't that perfectly easy to organise? I mean, you need money to fund the situation where everyone will jump at the chance of buying the magic stones. But I think you are forgetting a single detail, one that was already mentioned during the meeting, that gives us the perfect opportunity to solve all our financial problems."

Suddenly speaking up with a tone of a mother scolding her children for being complete and utter idiots, Ayda looked at everyone in the room with a genuine surprise spreading her eyes wide. 

"Your… Excellency, what do you mean by that?"

Gulping his saliva down before Ayda's proper title managed to pass through his throat, Jeff asked. 

"The dungeons that are not wiped regularly are believed to start pouring monsters into the normal world."

Raising both her face and her left forefinger, Ayda brought back the words that already appeared during the discussion.

"No matter whether it's true or not, this is a threat that needs to be taken care of. Isn't it obvious that those who will deal with this possibility should be paid for doing so from the taxes? In the end, this is kind of a duty that appeared only now. Just like the guards needs to protect the towns and cities and are getting paid from the local lord's coffers, a force capable of either preventing or at least researching the potential danger should be privy to remuneration as well."

Taking a quick breath to clear her throat, Ayda coughed once before raising her face back to the normal level. Her eyes widened up when she noticed how everyone just froze at the moment. 

"You still don't get it?"

Lowering her head in defeat, Ayda proved that she was an insane actress, even if her wording could give a clue of her real origins.

"Whether the big boss likes it or not, everyone interested will instantly jump at the idea. As soon as it's proposed, even if everyone knows it's complete bullshit, they will all support it. Because they stand to obtain lavish life off the taxpayers back. No one would miss such an opportunity."

Looking to the side at the girl's profile, I couldn't help but let my admiration seep through my eyes. Who cares about the wording, if the meaning behind her words was so damn insightful. 

At this moment, I couldn't help but feel a tingle of fear. I never knew Ayda was capable of being so shrewd!