novel
| ← Ch.169 | Ch.171 → |
The days had passed quickly.
Just as she promised, Rorono had finished Tiro's weapon in just a week. Right afterward, she began working on the development of the new Avalon-Ritters.
She had dubbed them the Three Musketeers.
Obviously, I was beyond excited.
"Oto-san, we're going now!"
"Gaugau♪"
Kuina waved at me while riding on Tiro's back.
Meanwhile, Tiro walked purposefully, almost as though she was showing off the [Talaria] equipped on her legs.
Compared to the prototype she tested last week, this one was more powerful, lighter, and had far better fuel consumption. Furthermore, it also used Kuina's tail fur as battery.
Tiro loved her [Talaria]. She loved it almost as much as she loved food. Almost.
"Kuina, Tiro, you girls be careful on your hunt, alright?"
"Yeah, sure thing!"
Today as well, they were going to the [Crimson Cavern] so that they could raise Tiro's level.
And just like that, they were off.
Some time later, I decided to leave my estate as well.
When I reached the center of the city, it felt like the number of unfamiliar faces had increased.
The effects of building churches in the cities of the Axela Kingdom are already beginning to show, huh.
I could tell just by the air around them which humans went to Avalon as pilgrims visiting a holy place.
In terms of quantity, there weren't any significant increase in DP and emotions yet, but the overall quality definitely became better.
Day by day, their numbers tended to increase. It hasn't even been a month and yet things were already like this.
◇
"They really made it in ten days."
After a while of walking, I arrived at the [Plain]. There, I issued such words of astonishments.
The day before, the Dwarf Smiths had finished building the casino without incident.
It was this magnificent white, two-story building.
Without holding back, the Dwarf Smiths used all techniques present in this world that were applicable.
It was highly flame resistant and sturdy. It also had excellent acoustics and sound insulation.
Furthermore, air conditioners and sound equipment were installed at various strategic locations.
The first floor of the building would be where the dealers we had recruited from all over the world could show their skills.
Meanwhile, one half of the second floor would be for the theaters where gigantic screens would be installed so that hundreds of people could simultaneously watch the flying dragon races.
As for the other half, it was going to be leased out to hopeful applicants. These would-be tenants were going to charged a fair bit. For if otherwise, those that were opening their shops around the casino instead of within might see it as unfair.
Unfortunately for some though, the application window for that had already ended some days ago.
As for selecting which ones we were going to accept from the many that applied, I had decided that the best way was through lottery instead of an auction.
If it was an auction, the merchants would drive the rent up in hopes of getting a spot. And the higher the rent was, the more the prices of their goods and services had to be and, in turn, the lower the guests' satisfaction would be. That was not at all what I wanted.
On the other hand, there was a real chance that the winners of the lottery might become too complacent and thus result in a drop in the quality of their products and services. To prevent this, I decided to impose a condition to the tenants: each month, they were to submit to me a report of their revenues and whoever performed the poorest, all things considered, would not be given an extension on their lease.
◇
Upon seeing me, one of the Dwarf Smiths rushed in my direction.
She then guided me to the front of the building where many of the casino's officials awaited. Today was the casino's unveiling and everyone was going to take a look around.
It was the scheduled time, so I signaled to them that the tour was going to begin.
From the exterior alone, I could already say that the building was a thing of beauty, but once I got inside, I was astonished even more. No effort was spared in making everything as finely detailed as possible.
"Dwarf Smith, you guys really did a fine job. This has exceeded my expectations."
"We really did our best! Even though it was close to the deadline, we were confident that what we built was to your liking."
I was aware of the hard work they were doing—continually using earth magic, operating the golems which were more powerful and more accurate than heavy machinery, and many other things—and yet I still didn't imagine the casino would turn out to be this amazing.
Apparently, I wasn't the only one to think so.
"H-how?"
"It feels like something out of a dream"
"... this impressive building was built in just ten days?"
"Even several years of construction won't normally be enough to build something like this."
"Hahaha, if those fellas from the kingdom hear about this, they'll soil their pants!"
Some of the staff were even at a loss for words.
They had seen the building's exterior during the construction, but it was the first time they had entered and explored it.
After a while, a group of workers and dealers carried in a large quantity of luggage. Within were chairs, desks, gigantic roulettes, musical instruments, paintings, vases, and many others.
Spearheading this operation of unpacking and arrangement was Conanna.
"Everyone, we don't have much time to place and arrange everything! We only have three days. I don't expect us to get any sleep until then, but in exchange for that, your salaries for the following days will be tripled. And if we do finish on time, you will also receive a bonus! Alright, let's do our best to make it to the deadline!"
""Yes, sir!""
The workers enthusiastically replied so, and then began their work.
Meanwhile, the dealers gave out suggestions to make their own work easier.
All the Dwarf Smiths could do was prepare the building. It was up to Conanna and his workers to give the casino the finishing touches. To that end, Conanna and the selected tenants were shown the blueprints of the building during the construction and were asked to give their opinions.
Similarly, while the casino was still under construction, Conanna had consulted workers and dealers on what additional things and personnel they thought was needed so that he could ready those and make the finishing of the casino's interior design be as soon as possible.
When Conanna noticed me walking around, he smiled and then rushed to my direction.
"Conanna, will you guys make it to the opening next week?"
"Of course. And I dare say, we will not only make it in time, we will exceed expectations."
He truly was reliable.
If he promised it, he would certainly deliver.
After talking some more with him, we parted ways.
I then continued my inspection. Not one issue popped up, especially on the marvelous second floor.
We had used a similar theater before in the trial run, but this one had an incredible ambiance. The quality of the screens and sound equipment was utterly superb.
The ceiling gimmick too was perfect.
"Dwarf Smith, it seems I have underestimated you guys. I didn't think you'd be able to do this much without relying on Rorono. For that, sorry and thank you. I'll hand out special renumerations for you all later. I hope that money can help you find some amount of happiness."
"Thank you very much! I'll relay it to everyone later. I'm sure they'll be as happy about it as I am."
Now that I knew they were capable of this much, I thought it might be a good idea to entrust all of the construction work in Avalon to them.
Just by doing that, Rorono's workload would decrease significantly. And the more Rorono could devote herself to her research, the more Avalon would grow stronger.
"Now that I think about it, where are the other Dwarf Smiths? With the casino finished, shouldn't you guys be free now?"
"Actually, no, we still have a lot of work to do. Before the casino opens, we'd like to finish the water and sewer systems here as well as the outer walls. Right now, we're busy on the overall plans for those infrastructures. There are some of us that has to wait until those plans are finished, so in the meantime, they are helping the humans build the facilities that will be around the casino. They are also building prefabricated houses in the same property as Duke-sama's inn. Hopefully, these outbuildings will mean less humans who have no choice to camp or squat, especially those that have come here for work."
"How considerate of you guys."
Those infrastructures were absolutely vital.
Under the assumption that there would be a few thousand people here in the [Plains], waste of all kinds was sure to pile up if left undealt with, making the casino filthy in no time at all. After all, there was only so much cleaning could do.
the many workers.
Meanwhile, even though the inn managed by Duke was the place these workers could stay for extremely cheap rates, it became full and unable to accept more guests. Because of that, workers that were hired to build the facilities around the casino as well as those that were hired to attend to those facilities were forced to either sleep in tents prepared by the merchants or freeload at an acquaintance's place. The prefabs the Dwarf Smith mentioned should dramatically improve the housing situation faced by those workers.
"... just don't do too much of a good job, okay? We don't want to compete with the merchants. So, tell Duke to lower the rent of the prefab houses to half of normal, but also that only the casino's personnel may stay at those."
"Understood! We'll arrange for things to go like that."
While having a cheap inn that could accommodate a large number of people was great, there were the merchants that built their own inns to consider. Their target guests were the tourists coming for the casino, while our inn's were those that worked there.
There was no need for us steal each other's guests.
Besides, the prefabs were, at best, a stop-gap measure. The end goal for these workers was to get them to buy their own house and reside here in Avalon. Even if I had to hand out financial assistance, that must happen. Hopefully, the house construction boom happening at the moment would help too for that.
"You really thoughtful to what the humans need, Procell-sama."
"Well, we do need their emotions in order to live, after all. It's just a matter of respecting them."
This wasn't the only time we were considerate of the humans.
For example, I had ordered the Dwarf Smiths to not accept any commissions other than blacksmithing commissions from the humans. If they really wanted to, they could easily snatch away all construction, blacksmithing, alchemy works and more in the city. But if they did that, that would result in less business and thus less humans in Avalon.
Managing a city wasn't easy.
At any rate, it seemed like the casino would be operational next week as planned.
The day this dream-like facility would manifest its ability to bring prosperity to Avalon was near.
Along with the opening, I was expecting the influx of a large number of humans with high-quality emotions for us to lavish. I am going to get stronger again!
And then, something else I was looking forward to had arrived.
"Finally. She didn't reply as soon as I had hoped, so I was getting a bit worried there."
A blue bird had perched itself on my shoulder. It carried a letter from Stolas.
"So, she's accepted... thank goodness."
Previously, I had sent her a letter that proposed an activity that would make both of our forces stronger.
Thankfully, she accepted it. So, I planned to go to her dungeon later.
If this thing worked, it could eliminate a weakness of the Darkness Dragons while also giving a tremendous boost in attack power to Stolas's side.
| ← Ch. 169 | Ch. 171 → |