178 Rewards
“You can leave,” Castle Minister Mespien waved his hand and gestured to the lead knight to leave the hall.
“Yes!” the knight nodded and bowed before he turned around and opened the hall’s door to leave.
When the hall’s door closed, Mespien gestured to Zevien and Vernisia with his hand and pointed at the chairs. “Please sit.”
After Zevien and Vernisia sat down, Mespien put his elbows on the table and covered his mouth with crossed palms before speaking with a serious expression, “can you remove your hood before telling me the news?”
“No,” Zevien shook his head. “This is for our safety. We do not want to get into trouble after relaying this news.”
Princess Nerissa felt some familiarity in the voice, but she couldn’t pinpoint it.
“Also, we can’t say anything in the presence of people unrelated to the kingdom,” Vernisia said as she glanced at Princess Nerissa and her group.
Princess Nerissa stood up and smiled at Mespien. “Minister Mespien, I have relayed my father’s words to you. I hope you can present this proposal to King Muriak and discuss it. I am sure it will benefit both kingdoms.”
“We will discuss it,” Mespien said and nodded plainly.
“Then we shall take our leave now,” princess Nerissa bowed courteously before walking out of the hall.
After the door closed, Zevien quickly said, “can you inform someone important in the kingdom to detain princess Nerissa and her entourage?”
“Why?” Mespien was startled at the sudden request of these unknown guests.
“Please do it quickly. You can just keep them via fake reasons like meeting the king or a feast and something like that because the news we are about to tell you is related to the Amorph kingdom,” Zevien quickly said with a serious voice.
Mespien narrowed his eyes and deeply looked at them for two seconds before he took out a communication crystal and infused mana in it. “Chief Maid, quickly go and stop princess Nerissa and her group. Tell them to stay for a feast with the king so they can directly explain the proposal to the king.”
‘This old man is fast and decisive,’ Zevien and Vernisia thought the same thing.
“Now tell me, what is the news?” Mespien asked.
Vernisia proceeded to tell about the deeds of the Ufar house in the Amorph kingdom and Muriak kingdom’s borderlands. Her voice was slightly agitated as she remembered the state of the villagers because it angered her a lot.
“So that’s how they were doing it… damn it,” Mespien muttered before cursing. “Did you inspect the villages or just killed the guards and left?” he asked.
“We didn’t have time for such things,” Zevien shook his head. “We just killed guards to save the villagers in the Amorph kingdom and arrived here. However, the villagers in your kingdom are still suffering.”
“Why did you ask that?” Vernisia asked with a frown. “Was there something else in those villages?”
“Sigh… the growth of the Amorph kingdom has been increasing very fast in the past few years. We speculated that they found some valuable ore mines in the undergrounds of their kingdom and even found some shallow proofs. But to mine such a thing and to mine it this quick, they need more people.”
“You mean…” Zevien was startled. “So those border villages had underground passage connected to the mine?”
“Most likely, yes. This task was likely handed over to the Ufar house since it is the biggest noble house in the Amorph kingdom, with connections to other kingdoms. They must have been selling these valuable ores to other kingdoms and gaining riches,” Mespien speculated.
“What will you do now?” Vernisia asked.
“They dared to slave our villages and subjected them to such cruelty, hmph. They will pay the price,” Mespien snorted and stood up. “Once we confirm that our villages were also affected, we can start by punishing the dukes before waging war on the Amorph kingdom.”
“Then you will start mining those ores, right?” Zevien asked as he narrowed his eyes. “Will you do the same as the Amorph kingdom?”
“Hahaha, you are looking down on our Muriak kingdom,” Mespiel laughed and shook his head. “This mining work will be an opportunity for all the common people of their kingdom after we conquer it.
“We will arrange a proper infrastructure of mining and let them work in the mines regularly and stably. We will pay them appropriately such that most of them would want to work there. All villages around the mine will be removed, but we will build a big town for them with proper housing and all necessities,” Mespiel finished talking with a smile.
Zevien and Vernisia were surprised to see him already planning to such an extent.
“Indeed, if workers are healthy and have a willingness to work, then they can also work faster and produce more,” Zevien nodded.
Mespiel nodded with a smile. “Come with me. We must relay this news to the king, and you must get rich rewards for bringing such information and giving justice to those villages and people.”
…
The King of Muriak first gave 50,000 gold coins and entry into their royal library. They could choose two magic spells of their choice from the library.
Afterward, some people took them on a tour of the town and let them choose any empty house they wanted in town. It would be theirs with the deed.
After spending an hour looking at all the houses, they selected a house on the periphery of the capital town. It surprised Mespien that they chose such a small house at the periphery of the town.
The house was small, but it was beautiful because it was at the periphery of the town, with little to no public and a silent environment. There was a river stream flowing out of the town near their house. This was one of the main reasons they chose this house.
After settling in the house, Zevien activated the chain he got as a reward after completing this quest.
*****
[Chain activated, Wings of Symphony]
-Step 1: Locate the ruins of the ancient clan of the Skyuma family.
*****
“I got the chain, but let’s not follow it now,” Zevien said as he sat down cross-legged on the mattress. “We only have thirty minutes or something left, I think. So let’s just meditate.”
“Yep. The atmosphere here is peaceful,” Vernisia said with a smile as she also closed her eyes and entered meditation.