The Golden Throne - Chapter 250

Liu Feng smiled.

“It looks like at the end of the day, tricks like these won’t work against wisdom. You are truly a learned man.” he chuckled.

He clutched the edge of his ear, and started tearing off the layer of makeup on his face. Slowly, it revealed his true face. He sat on his chair while all of the merchants looked at him with wide open faces.

“Your Majesty! Forgive me for being impudent.” the merchant who just spoke begged Liu Feng with his knees on the ground.

“Any one would want to safeguard their secrets. I of all people would know that. I am not petty enough to actually do anything about this.” Liu Feng smiled. He then looked at the two leaders.

“I see that all of you have arrived quite a bit ahead of time. I hope that you haven’t been inconvenienced due to all of this.” Liu Feng asked.

“Not at all, Your Majesty. It is our honor to be one of the first people you consult immediately after coming to power.” the old man said with a gentle tone.

“First of all, all of you here know who I am. You must have heard what I have done. I was undercover in Dilheim, and I made it the marvel that it is right now. That is all my planning. Now that I am king, for me to have the capital here as the place from which I operate is a shame for me. This is one of the worst places to live right now.” Liu Feng said. He did not wish to beat around the bush and went straight to the point.

“Your Majesty. Although Dilheim was an incredible piece of art, that was only possible because of the magical powder that the mage tower had given the lord’s mansion. That scale of construction is impossible here.” the leader of the Rock Tyrant group said.

“I am not talking about the height of the towers, or about the neat and tidy streets here. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The situation in the slums, and the outskirts of the city is pathetic. That is what I need to fix. I will give all of you three months. The slums must go. The people within the slums will work for you, and all of them will be paid by me. In exchange, the buildings must be built.” Liu Feng said.

“The slums? Your Majesty. It has been thought of before, but the amount of money and time that it takes caused many people to change their time.” the old man said.

“In exchange, for payment, I will sell the exclusive rights to the magical powder to the two groups here for the duration of the next five years.”

“It shall be done, Your Majesty!” the two leaders said without hesitation.

“Wow. It looks like the two of you really liked the use cases of cement, didn’t you? That was the quickest decision that I had seen someone take. Well then, it is good that all of us have gotten to an agreement. I shall send people to the slums to make sure that all of them do not misunderstand what is about to happen. The buildings that will be taking place shall be designed and architected by someone I will appoint. You shall have the designs by the end of the week. As for the wages of the slum dwellers-”

“Do not worry about that, Your Majesty! We shall take care of that. The grace that you have given us to have this opportunity is more than enough. We shall pay them ourselves.” the old man said.

“That is more than enough. Thank you, merchants. I hope that all of this goes well. Remember. Three months. I shall send a letter to the master of the mage tower. You shall receive the cement within a week. Along with the designs.” Liu Feng said as he walked out of the room.

Liu Feng looked at the guard next to him.

“Your Majesty! I did not see you walk in!” the guard said with an astonished face.

“Don’t worry about all of that.” Liu Feng chuckled as he walked away.

Inside the room, things weren’t so simple.

“Father! How could you agree to something like that so easily? This is the entire slums that we are talking about. All of this will be the biggest and most expensive construction project that we will undertake, and you are doing this for free?” there was an angry voice.

“For free? Did you not hear what he just say? He just said that he would sell us the exclusive rights for the cement. The duopoly of the two groups here shall extend from the capital to the rest of the kingdom, and maybe even beyond. I have heard about what the city of Dilheim promised. I visited the city. That was the most magnificent sight that I had ever seen. Trust me. This is all going to be worth it.” the old man said.

The middle aged man from Rock Tyrant was also of a similar opinion.

“Time is money. That cement will save us so much more time than before, and we will earn much more than we will spend here,” he told his subordinates.

Then, the two leaders looked at each other.

“We have to do this together. If by any chance we miss the deadline, the king might renege on his offer, and all that we will have left is a huge stack of debt. I hope that you understand the direness of the situation here.” the old man said.

“We won’t be the problem. Just make sure that you are not.” his counterpart from Rock Tyrant said.

The both of them locked eyes for a brief moment. Then, they burst into laughter.

“Heavens must be favoring the Draejon family. For the king to choose the two of our guilds of all people. Heavens must be favoring us, dear son-in-law!” the old man laughed.