Chapter 144

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" After having breakfast with Julia and Watson, the Dragon King was now having a meeting with the goddess of wealth.

"We might have to leave in 3 days." Alicia bit her lips and said with a struggling look.

"Sure. No problem. I am almost done with my work." Watson who was standing behind Aditya rolled his eyes. Aditya was practically dumping his work on Watson. He did it when he left with Julia and now he was going to do with again.

'At this rate, I might as well become the official Prime Minister and work myself to death.' Just like Aditya, Watson barely got any sleep. It was not easy to maintain this big territory. There were still hundreds of things that needed to be taken care of. On top of the administration work, Aditya was also planning on building new infrastructure all over his Empire.

"By the way, exactly how much do I currently owe you?"

"Somewhere around 1 million royal gold coins."

If Aditya had heard this huge number before, he would faint after coughing up blood. But after the invasion, Aditya obtained a large chunk of money. He also had the money that the Emperor of Echo Dominion had given him. For him, money was not a problem anymore.

"That's a lot of money. Miss Guild Leader, you should give me a discount, we're friends and business partners after all. If I suddenly pay this big money to you, then how am I going to take care of my people? Do you want to starve my people to death?" Watson and Alicia, both rolled their eyes at Aditya. It was not surprising how shameless Aditya can be.

"Sir Emperor, I think you're forgetting the fact that you got 5 million royal gold coins from the Emperor of Echo Dominion Empire is more than enough to cover the bills."

"But I thought we were friends. At least give me some discount."

Alicia calmly took a sip of tea. "I already have given you a big discount. Originally the total amount that you were supposed to pay was 1.3 million royal gold coins. Because of our friendship, I have cut 300,000 from the total amount. If you pay me 1 million royal gold coins, I am not making any profits here. This money is enough to cover the cost of the materials."

Aditya knew that the latter part of her words were lies. As a businesswoman, Alicia certainly knew how to make profits while also keeping a good relationship with her clients.

Sigh!

"I can't win against you." Aditya took out a golden ring and handed it to Alicia. "This storage ring has 1 million royal gold coins."

Alicia took the ring and put it in her storage ring without even checking the amount. This showed how much trust she had in Aditya.

"Thank you for doing business with the Seeker of Impurity guild. I look forward to our next business deal."

"By the way, do you mind if I borrow Julia for a while?"

"Can I know the reason?" Julia had told Aditya that she and Alicia has been friends. It was not surprising for them to hang out together.

"Actually, my aunt wants me to give her a beauty pill. In case, if you don't know what is a beauty pill. A beauty pill is a rare alchemy product that can keep the appearance of a woman the same till she dies. Whoever consumes these pills will never lose their beauty and would always look the same. To women, this pill is a priceless treasure. Noble women would go as far as to pay 1 million for this pill."

"I remember Julia telling me about this beauty pill thing a long time ago. Sure you can take Julia with you but not today. Unfortunately" Aditya added the last part with a grin on his face.

"Can I know the reason?"

"Well, today Julia is going to recruit some female alchemist for the Istarin Empire. Also, we're going on date."

"Then I will wait till tomorrow."

"Do you have the ingredients to make the beauty pill? The ingredients needed to make a beauty pill are very hard to find."

"Yes, I have. But how do you know about the ingredients?"

"Naturally, I learned it from Julia. She told me this during one of our dates." When you have to date the goddess of alchemy, as her boyfriend, the goddess will naturally tell you many things about alchemy. Aditya was able to remember them because of his skills.

"Aditya, can you tell me what you plan on doing with the 500 sea elves that you have bought 2 months ago?" From Julia, Alicia has heard about the 500 sea elves that Aditya bought.

"Why are you so concerned about my slaves?" Aditya asked her back with a smile.

"As half-mermaid, I just felt curious."

"You're half-mermaid?" Aditya asked while widening his eyes.

"Why are you so surprised? Don't tell me, you did not know?"

"I....Watson, did you know about it?" Instead of replying Aditya turned to his butler and asked.

p "Yes."

"And here this whole time, I was assuming that you were a human-like Julia."

"Haha!!! The world does not know that the goddess of wealth is half-mermaid. Only the people who are close to me know this fact."

"Since you're half-mermaid, does that mean you and your family live under the seawater?" Speaking of half-mermaid, Aditya was remembered about a certain mermen king whom he fought 2 months ago.

"Of course not. I am also half-human. My parents and I have been living on the land for as long as I can remember. Though I have heard from my parents that they have a secret palace under the seawater. But I never got the chance to visit it."

"Alright, I will take my leave now. Please don't mistreat the sea elves. If possible, I would have liked to buy them from you and send them back to my father. The sea elves and the mermaids in Westnia are very close allies." Alicia stood up to leave.

"Don't worry. I never mistreat any of my slaves. Currently, they are doing some important work for me. In fact, in the future, I don't mind removing the slave status and making those 500 sea elves the citizen of the Istarin Empire." After his clash with the mermen king, Aditya decided to expand his territory under the sea and ocean as well. The sea elves are going to play a very important part in his future plans.

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After Alicia left, Aditya and Watson went to their office which now had become their second home. In the last 2 months, 80% of their time was spent in this room. Besides Aditya and Watson, there were 10 more royal officials who were writing budget reports. The room was full of chairs, tables, and papers.

After Aditya sat down, he opened the system to check his progress.

『Ding! There are currently two requirements that the host needs to complete to advance on his path to becoming the true Dragon Monarch.

『1. Expand the host's territory over an area of 500,000 km2.』

『Completed』

『2. Gather the materials needed to build the legendary Dragon Palace. 』

『Required materials: - 100 tons of gold, 50 tons of silver, 50,000 spirit stones, 100 tons of refined iron』

'If I had decided to use all the golds that I have found in Nyland Kingdom treasury, the gold requirements would have been fulfilled. But I needed that money to launch my plan which will transform the entire Istarin Empire.'

First of all, Aditya was building new and improved roads which will last longer. The roads were going to connect all the major cities of the Istarin Empire and will make transportation safe and faster. He had ordered the construction of new public baths, washrooms, and wells. The current Istarin Empire was so big that an army of 250,000 would not be enough. This is why, Aditya had ordered Duke Sarlus, Duke Zayne, and his other nobles to start recruiting more soldiers.

The third thing that Aditya was tackling in these 2 months was, taking care of the corruption. Fortunately for this job, Nathan and his men and Zachery and his Majins were there. While Nathan and his men were dealing with the corrupted nobles in the northern region. Zachery and his village Majins were in the Nyland Kingdom.

Over the last two months, because of the combined efforts of Nathan, Zachery, and their subordinates, the Istarin Empire was able to collect nearly 1 million royal gold coins which came out of the pockets of the corrupted nobles and the nobles who fled after their Kingdoms were attacked by the Istarin Empire.

Aditya had also introduced new farming methods which were currently being tested out in some villages located near Vrane city. Watson and other officials have been revising the new policies, laws, and reforms that Aditya introduced. It was their job to report it to Aditya if any of his policies or reforms failed and backfired. But so far nothing like this has happened.

"Watson, how many mines the current Istarin Empire has?" Aditya suddenly asked.

"Your Majesty, till now we have found around 13 mines. Out of which, three of them were gold mines, four of them were silver mines, five iron mines, and one mana stone mine."

Aditya rubbed his forehead while closing his eyes. 'Where can I find 50,000 spirit stones? What are spirit stones in the first place?' Aditya can easily find gold, silver, and refined iron. Though it might take a while, it wasn't impossible to gather these materials. But what about spirit stones?

'Even Watson does not know anything about it. Whom should I ask? Maybe Alicia? or maybe Uncle Adam?'

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