Proofread by Thomas F
Countess Velaniel
"It's a brothel, Aunt Ela. People will talk if they see you visiting the brothel," said Isryn.
"Technically, it's the school where they teach the whores," I replied without turning my eyes away from the widow.
I am using Aristocrat's Appraisal; the skill I am using the most since I came here to gain insight into the city. There is a resistance, a lot of it.
Silver is countering it somehow, and the thing is, I could not sense how.
There is a blanket resistance that I could not tear through.
"Lady Isryn is right, Countess. Visiting that place will give people a chance to cast aspersions on you," said Calder, my adviser.
"His single city has more civilian population than Marquess Grimvale's entire Dominion," I said, which includes me and other nobles.
I feel envious of it: the population, the activity, and the vibrancy I am seeing around the city.
"Silver is an extremely intelligent man. He used every advantage he had to its maximum potential. The location, the legacy, and even the undead attacks," he replied.
I nodded in complete agreement.
I don't know how a mercantile house had produced such a monster. I had studied him, and until he was fifteen, he was nothing special. Gifted with a blade, but many are.
It is not the blade, I fear, but the mind that achieved this.
I consider him the most dangerous one in the region. More so than the undead and even Marquess Grimvale.
It is not the power he has that scares me, but the potential he possesses.
He had achieved so much in a short time, and the way he is developing, I believe Grimvale has less time than he thinks to deal with Silver.
I had advised the Marquess to attack Silver with all his strength or sign a binding non-aggression agreement lasting decades.
Silver is rising, and Marquess has to deal with him quickly in the small time window he currently has.
Once it has passed, he can forget about conquering Greltheaven, and he will worry about Silver marching his army to the Dustorn Fortress.
"It's a beautiful city; I did not really expect it," said Isryn. I heard about it, but even I am having a hard time believing it. There are wide streets, beautiful buildings, and trees, lots and lots of them.
They line the streets, in parks, in squares; they are everywhere.
I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been any city in the empire. Even most of those didn't have as many trees as this one has, but here I am seeing it myself.
Growing trees in the region is difficult, as everyone knows, the very soil acts against it.
They need constant maintenance; without it, they will die within months. So, one could imagine the sheer extravagance of the cost, but it is worth it.
Trees project soothing calm, as nothing else does. It is very important, especially in a place like this wasteland, where they provide a feeling of an oasis.
"It's not just beautiful, it's prosperous and peaceful. If you look carefully, you will see the business at every corner with people coming in and out of them."
"There are guards on every street and lamps that light up every corner."
"It isn't just that; there are hospitals, schools, an academy; he is even building a damn Mage tower. All these things make this city quite attractive," replied Calder.
That is why I am so impressed since I came here.
Everything Silver does is well-thought-out. He made his city beautiful and peaceful. He built deep connections in the empire to get people.
To strengthen it further, he had captured a port city. So he wouldn't depend on Inam.
The commendable thing is that he managed to do so despite being attacked by powerful undead five times. Despite that, he was able to develop significantly and attract many people.
People do not prefer such places.
It is why he is so dangerous; he has achieved things that nobody thought possible.
"Where is he getting the money for all these things, his family?" asked Isryn, to which I shook my head. House Silver didn't help, at least monetarily.
"Loans, aid, and most importantly, the legacies," replied Calder. "He is pouring all he is getting from the legacies into his city." He added.
"If we had a legacy, our city would have been as developed as his," she said, and I wanted to smile.
It would be different as we do not have an enviable location and some other advantages, but unlike it, Brimbale doesn't have the baggage of being attacked, and this is an important factor.
It is also a beautiful city with an ancient charm.
It is the least damaged city in the whole region. When Navr attacked last time, people abandoned the city. So the undead didn't damage it.
But she is right; the legacy's value is immense. Whenever it is born, it changes the fate of that city.
It could transform Brimbale if the legacy is born there.
A few minutes passed, and the carriage took the turn. Immediately, a large space opened in front of us, with a structure covered in mist at its center.
"Is it true that all of it is going to be one enormous park?" asked Isryn. "Among other things," I replied softly.
I heard things that I have a hard time believing. Like most of this massive place is going to be covered in mist plants. That is absurd.
The sheer amount of essence it would require would be colossal.
Hell, even if the mist plants only cover a quarter of the area, it will require a truly immense amount of essence. Though if he were able to do that, Silver would gain immense leverage.
Mist plants are desired; they are more useful than the raw essence, and the products created from them are more stable and powerful.
I have a few alchemists in the city; before I came here, they had met with me.
They asked me to bring them some emotion essence plants and emotions essence. However, Silver is not even willing to discuss it unless I offer him something good.
I do not have any other rings.
Thinking about it, I still feel the pain. It might have been a trinket artifact, but it was really useful, yet my safety matters most.
My enemies want to kill me, and in their last attempt, they come very close.
It is why I took the risk. If Silver reveals that I have an artifact, it will bring me a lot of trouble, but I don't think he will unless he wants to hurt me directly.
So, I have to become powerful. Enough that even House Hal wouldn't do anything.
The carriage stopped at the entrance to the park. I had noticed that there was heavy security. It is heavily guarded by the city police and also by the private guards of the Velvet Garden.
The guards talked to the driver before the carriage started moving again.
A few minutes later, they crossed the bridge over the drained canal. I had heard about this canal, but now there is no water there. I would have loved to see the water flowing below it.
Soon the carriage stopped, and the door opened.
"They sent a Grade II, not even one of the triumvirate," said Isryn, looking at the woman waiting on the other side. Thankfully, she spoke in Privacy.
"Welcome to Mena Horn College, Countess Velaniel," welcomed the dark-haired, beautiful woman in a flowing red dress as I stepped out of the carriage.
I was about to reply to her when I smelled the enthralling fragrance.
It's nothing as I had sensed before, and I wanted to enjoy it more, but I controlled my emotions and turned to the woman in front of me.
"Thank you, Madam Arga," I replied, to her surprise.
I have read the information. All the madams' names, backgrounds, skills, and everything else, I could manage.
Velvet Garden and its Madams wield the greatest influence in the Greltheaven Dominion, with two of them serving as Governors and one serving as the heir to the legacy.
People will talk about me visiting here, but despite that, I came here.
I want to know them, understand how they operate. Silver is a neighbour and could also be considered an adversary who could turn into an enemy.
It is important to understand his biggest pillar of strength. So, I could exploit it if we came into conflict.
I pushed those thoughts away and looked around, and what I saw couldn't help but surprise me. There I saw the gardens all around me.
In those gardens, I saw plants, mist plants, with beautiful, colorful mist covering them.
A third of the plants are the mist plants, and they are beautiful. It took quite an effort to avert my eyes from them and turn back to the woman.
"It's a beautiful place," I said, and it is, not just the mist plants, but also the buildings, while quietly activating Measure of Worth on her and hiding its use with Veil of Nobility.
"It is," she replied, with a smile and glint in her eyes.
I was barely able to hide my shock when I got barely anything from her.
There is that resistance again, that I felt earlier. It's not only the city, but also the people. What is this skill? An inheritance skill? I don't think House Silver has one.
His mother?
Barely anything is known about her. Even after those siblings dropped, nobody knew anything about her.
She sensed the skill, but didn't say anything, and led me inside.
I thought we would walk toward one of the buildings, but we didn't. We walked through the garden, where people are everywhere.
Women.
"Are all these women members of Velvet Garden?" I asked, while using Aristocrat's Assessment, despite the great resistance. I didn't use the other two skills.
It's fine if I didn't get caught, but here I did. I still don't understand how she sensed it. Resistance is one thing, which could be attributed to Silver, but her sensing it is another.
I could tell she is not Lv. 40, but she sensed it when many Lv. 40 didn't.
It seemed like coming here had been the right choice. These madams aren't simple, and it made me even more excited about meeting the Headmistress.
I have heard so much about her.
It's such a regret that I won't be able to meet the Madam of Velvet Garden. That woman is mysterious; even when the legacy was open, she was a rare sight.
Since it is closed, she had been spotted in public only a few times. Before leaving, I will try to see whether I can meet her.
"Some, some are the recruits," replied the madam, after a moment of silence, surprising me.
"I thought, once you recruit them, they automatically become members of Velvet Garden?" I asked; that's what I had read in the information.
"That was before, but now, there is a six-month period before they become part of Velvet Garden," she replied.
I looked at those women and was surprised.
I could see their beauty, the grace with which they carried themselves. They are actively being taught, there are skills involved, but I can tell the difference between the learned and the natural grace.
Because I, too, had learned it and could still feel Baroness Kanorov's cane on my back.
"Why a policy change?" I asked. "For greater scrutiny. We want to choose the best, and a few days of interviews aren't enough," she replied.
It is true. I am sure it isn't just about capability but also about trust and loyalty.
Grimvale spoke about putting the agent source here and cultivating one. Given his nature, he might have already started on it.
"I heard you spent a lot on training. Is it worth spending so much money on the wh..women?" asked Isryn, and I wanted to glare at the girl.
The question isn't bad, but she should have thought of it before asking.
So, she shouldn't have said whore.
I am here to get to know them, build a good relationship, and avoid angering them. Because of Marquess Grimvale's actions, I do not have a clean slate to work with.
I have to work with what I have, and I hope the woman didn't get angry.
It didn't look like it bothered her.
"Of course it is, Lady Isryn," "These are girls who will work in Velvet Garden. Some of them would become pillars of the Velvet Garden and the dominion."
"So, it's really important that they get the best education they need for that," she replied with clear pride in her voice.
I didn't forget to notice how she used 'education', not 'training'.
"It has a complete curriculum, like a real academy?" asked Calder, picking up on the 'education'. "It is an academy; we have registered as such in the city," she replied with a smile.
This information surprised me. I didn't know about that.
I catalogued this information and changed my speaking points.
"Given the size of the legacy, which I heard Lord Silver is building. You must be recruiting a lot of women?" I asked. "Yes, the number is substantial," replied the madam without specifying any amounts.
The number will be huge, looking at the surrounding construction.
The information stated that more than half of the people left Velvet Garden when the undead were attacking last time. So, even without these recent changes, they would still need people.
Soon, we reached the area where I saw a group of people working.
I stopped as I looked at tiny little plants on the cart, covered in mist.
"They are planting the mist plants?" asked Isryn in surprise and walked closer toward them; the madam didn't stop her, even though she reached very close to them.
"Yes," replied the madam, while I watched people in front of me work.
They are not common workers. I could feel each of them at least Lv. 20 and those handling the plants are Lv. 30. I could feel the power of their skills, and with ease, they are doing the work.
Though currently their eyes are focused. They didn't even glance at us.
"Are you replacing all the plants around the college with mist plants?" asked Calder. The woman didn't reply, other than to smile, which was enough of an answer.
I heard about it, but seeing it happening with my own eyes is a completely different thing.
We watched it for a few minutes. She had intentionally shown us this. So, we might as well watch it, I noted the plants. I don't know the species, but I am sure I will be able to find out.
Soon, we resumed walking and moved past the last bush wall, when a beautiful gazebo came into view.
Within it, a blond woman is wearing a beautiful blue dress.
She had a book in her hand, but as she seemed to notice us as she turned toward us, a smile appeared on her face.
Margaux Swan, the headmistress. One of the triumvirate of Velvet Garden.
I hope I will be able to convince her. I want to see the artisan's garden, the place where they produce mist goods. It is the thing I am most curious about.
Grimvale had asked me to look at it on our last call.
Silver's people declined my request, but I am sure. If I can convince this woman, I will be able to see it and might even be able to meet the mysterious Caena Aris.