The next day, Feicui Long meets with Caroline's aunt and Freja's cousin, whose names, by the way, are Evelyn Desertspirit and Elise Silfvermåne. This is to discuss the contract he gave them, just like with everyone else in the house except for Frieda Kesselberg, that strange young woman he saved, whom he only plans to keep until the end of winter, that is, until the first month of the year begins, once the remaining three months have passed.
Feicui Long looks at the two of them and says: "Well, Miss Evelyn, Miss Elise, what have you thought about the contract? I believe I've already given you more than enough time since the village, right? If you don't accept, don't worry, I'll make sure someone protects you on the way back, so go ahead, I'll listen to your opinions."
When Evelyn's main escort maid is about to reject the contract, Evelyn speaks and says: "I agree. I accept signing the golden-emerald dragon pact, as long as you keep your promise to give me my moments of peace, teach and explain to me your knowledge of engineering, and also share the information of what you've learned and your sketches. In fact, as long as you do that, there's no need to pay me."
The main maid shouts in fear: "Miss, you can't do that! A pact like that is almost like signing a slavery contract, even if it doesn't restrict your freedom!"
Evelyn replies: "That doesn't matter. Also, don't call me miss. I'm already 35 years old. I prefer to stay here rather than keep watching the Desertspirit clan and family look at me with contempt because of my tastes and because I don't like spending much time with people. Besides, here I'll be able to try out my craziest ideas and learn more."
The maid replies quickly, knowing her lady is very stubborn once she decides something: "Then at least accept the payment, miss."
Evelyn shakes her head and crosses her arms. Feicui Long smiles a bit ironically and says: "Hmm I understand what you're saying, but I can't not pay you. Who knows what people would say if I made a girl from a prestigious family work without pay, so at least accept a payment of 10 to 15 silver coins. I don't think that's unreasonable."
Evelyn then nods and Feicui Long creates the contract with his summoning skill and hands it to her directly. She quickly bites her finger, sealing it with her blood. Then he looks at Elise and says: "Alright Miss Elise, what have you decided?"
Elise calmly says: "From the beginning I had already accepted the contract. You just hadn't asked. Anyway, to be a chief merchant you have to sign a special pact, so I don't see anything wrong with signing one here. Also, being able to stay here and be the lead merchant of everyone, I think that's a better position. And just like with Miss Evelyn, I hate the looks from my family."
Feicui Long does the same with Elise and hands her the contract, which she also seals quickly with her blood. Feicui Long nods and gets up from his chair. He has more things to do after all.
…
Feicui Long is now distributing food in the improvised central plaza along with his troops. They are giving out the weekly rations to each family, so that every member of family one has three meals a day. The food is carefully calculated. Everyone lines up in an orderly fashion, since only one person per family can claim the food. The others have to be working to speed up the construction of the houses and the notice board.
After about two hours, everyone has received theirs and the food, carefully counted, is gone. He looks at Clarisa, the scribe slave, and says: "Well, how did you find the work? Do you think it's too hard? You can ask the accountant, Xilena, to help you if necessary."
Clarisa looks at him and says: "No, don't worry my lord. This is simple work, although certainly asking Lady Xilena for help would be of great assistance."
Feicui Long then nods and goes to help with construction. When he arrives at the construction zones, he is as surprised as can be. Annie, who had been cooking just a while ago, is now helping with the construction. But the speed at which she is building is insane, but…
It is because she is using the telekinetic abilities of the basic four mystical energies mastery technique. The control with which she uses it surpasses his, and he has been using it since before awakening his memories and for three years with them. The worst part is that he has already seen the great talent she has for the fire, earth, crystal, arcane, and wind elements. This simple servant of his has great talent for cultivation. No wonder she finished 10 houses in only 17 days.
Feicui Long can only smile, but suddenly he thinks about what birthday gift to get for this servant of his. After seeing that, he gets to work engraving the houses already finished. He has many inscriptions to make and winter is just 10 days away. Luckily, with almost 120 people helping in construction, plus the golems and the experienced workers and master builders, along with Annie's help, these houses will be finished in the blink of an eye.
…
After several hours of non-stop work, Feicui Long manages to finish inscribing seven houses. Fortunately, each house only measures a seventh of his own house, otherwise it would take too long. Right now he is resting while eating lunch and sighing, since if he were at his peak he could finish this in seconds. Even when he created the formation that separated the central universal sector, which measured exactly the same as the others: 930 billion light-years in diameter, he only took three full months.
But now he has to take the time to consume energy recovery pills in order to continue, since he needs to leave the houses ready. The formations he inscribes fulfill various roles. Some are for the "refrigerator," which is actually a room divided into the "freezer" and the "refrigerator" parts, each with a different formation—one to lower the temperature to -25° C and the other to preserve food like a regular refrigerator between 0 and 5° C. Besides that, he installs artifacts such as showers and other things that improve daily life.
He also has to place external formations that serve to thermally insulate the house, increase resistance, hardness, and durability, so that natural conditions don't damage them but also so even cultivators of the ascendant realm cannot damage them. He adds other features like kinetic dissipation formations for things like earthquakes, tornadoes, and others, allowing the houses to resist natural disasters. Although this area isn't known for those, it's better to be safe than sorry.
As for why he uses this instead of building it into the structure itself, well, actually, he did design them to withstand all that. In the case of thermal insulation, however, the best materials available in the Habsburg Empire aren't very good for that. So if he doesn't want his potential citizens and children to freeze to death, he needs to insulate them in another way. Although now that he thinks about it, he should install an energy-gathering formation to collect the energy in this area, because even though energy doesn't run out, if he absorbs more than can be regenerated, the formations could deactivate.
Feicui Long then stops thinking about it and goes into his house. Today is a special day, since it will be the first meeting of his village's council, or at least that's what he calls it, because he hasn't really formed a council, except for the chief architect Evelyn and the lead merchant Elise. Even so, today they are going to discuss the modifications he made to the plan, the expenses, and the village inventory.
…
In the meeting room Feicui Long arranged on the third floor, which he equipped with a master formation that includes soundproofing, anti-espionage, energy cancellation, and more, and where he placed the old dining table and the same chairs, it's a bit poor but it's what they have for now. At least it already has a formation. Before, it was his bedroom that served as the meeting room, which obviously is no longer enough for so many people. Even Elise and Evelyn's maids are here now.
By the way, he didn't want to let them in. In fact, they had to agree to adjust the servitude contract they had formed with Elise and Evelyn in order to be allowed in. The modification was that they could never talk about or share anything they heard or learned, nor share any knowledge about Feicui Long or the others, and they also couldn't act against them. So it really wasn't a big change, just a precaution. After all, everyone already has a contract. It would be unfair otherwise.
Feicui Long calmly says: "Alright, girls, in this first meeting of the village council, we can begin. Starting with today's agenda, the first part I would like Arianne to begin, since I believe the most important thing is to know our inventory and spending. The second part will be the details of the modified plan. The third, on the other hand, will be the short-term goals. And the fourth, if we have time, will be possible suggestions or improvements."
Arianne then takes her notes and begins to speak: "Alright. As Feicui Long asked me, I've been keeping track of everything for the last three months. Currently, we have a huge amount of meat, especially from the great hunt, both frozen and in jerky and dried form. In fact, even though the freezer is so big, it's full of frozen meat, and the spatial bags Feicui Long brought to store long-lasting food like the jerky are also full. And that's considering that the meat from some humanoid monsters very similar to humans, like the fauns, was given to the slimes."
Arianne pauses for a moment and then adds: "I estimate that even if we fed everyone with meat only, it would still last us three years. As for the rest of the food, with what you brought we have enough for six months, and that's just what you brought. With what we already had, it would last about one month more. For animal feed, we have enough for the three months of winter."
Feicui Long nods: "That's excellent. I think we should give a bit more jerky to the workers. They'll feel more appreciated and we can also relieve storage space a little."
Arianne replies: "I think so too. Now continuing with the materials, currently with the materials you brought, we have enough for the stable, the blacksmith's workshop, the forges, the carpentry shop, the tailoring shop, the masonry, and the market, just as you wanted. We also have enough for some of the formations. The only problem might be that we're short for the other workshops, food storage, and the rest of the things you brought. The one at the house is very saturated."
Arianne then reaches the final part and says, "This last part is a little difficult to say, it hurts even to pronounce it, but among the slaves you brought, the material for the houses including the energy stones, the 35 troops you acquired, the food, the 50 carriages, the 100 horses, the 35 cows, the 20 pigs and the 20 hens and 5 roosters, plus the clothing, tools, and other acquired materials, you've spent the outrageous total of 15 platinum coins."
Elise hears this, then looks at Feicui Long, then at Arianne, saying, "Miss Arianne, could you please hand me your notebook? Let me take a look."
Arianne nods and quickly passes it to her. Elise reads it all rapidly, and her eyes and mouth open wide before she looks back at Feicui Long and speaks, "I hope you'll forgive my rudeness, young master, but you must put a stop to these excessive expenses. I understand buying extra food... it's never a bad idea to have reserves, especially for a village that's just being founded, but even so, this level of spending is exaggerated, especially in certain areas, sir. Founding a village typically costs between 25 and 50 gold coins. You didn't just spend four times a silver coin... you spent 60 times that amount. I understand that you want your slaves or future citizens to live well, but there are many areas where you can cut costs."
Many had already fallen silent after hearing the impressive figure of 15 platinum coins, but what Elise said made them even more silent. They felt that Feicui Long had really gone overboard with his spending.
Elise then starts listing several points, "First, let's start with this... why buy 35 cows without a bull? It makes no sense. Wouldn't it have been better to buy fewer and two or three bulls? You could have also bought sheep for wool and milk. And you bought an exaggerated number of horses for so little cargo. I understand that to avoid harming or injuring the horses, it's normal to have two per cargo carriage, but most of the items were transported in spatial storage boxes or spatial storage bags. The rest, like the hens or pigs, which are still young, don't weigh much. Fifty horses were more than enough."
Elise continues, "Second, the tools. You bought five tools for each slave in each profession. I understand you want a spare if one gets damaged, but three per person would have been plenty. As for the fabrics, you bought way too many. I understand you want them to be able to have clothes, but you already gave them four sets, plus the one they were gifted with per slave. They have five outfits. This amount, while less than what a barony offers its citizens, where they may have up to ten sets, is already above average. Most territories' citizens barely have three. You're already at the upper middle. Buying so much was unnecessary."
Elise then continues for another 30 to 45 minutes explaining each detail she considers excessive, only to finally say, "My young master, if you'll forgive me, I believe it's best that you leave all the purchasing to me. You don't need to worry about it. Besides, I'd like to know how much you have in your coffers and what the potential sources of income are. Also, my advice is that you hire an accountant and an assistant who can sign a contract, or use the slave accountant. Though, since you plan to free her, I understand why you don't want to involve her in the meetings."
Everyone looks at Feicui Long, waiting to see how he reacts, but all he does is laugh, 'hahahaha,' and then says, "That's fine, that's fine. This is what I hired you for. This is what I need. Girls, this is what I like you to do. If I do something that's not right or you disagree with, you can correct me."
Then Feicui Long sits down and says seriously, "You're right. The spending was very unnecessary. I could have saved more in many areas. As for why I didn't buy a bull, it's because I want to buy them from the Skylion family since they have a good breed, same with the sheep. And as for how much I have, it's 63 platinum coins and 75 gold coins. For now, money is not a problem. Now, the second matter... is a little more difficult."
Feicui Long sighs and says, "At the moment, the sources of income are the alchemy products I make, the fragmented formations, the materials from energetic creatures, as well as the slime eggs. Other than that, we don't have much else. I've been thinking about selling the meat of the quartz deer or even taming a few to raise and sell their meat. Obviously, a limited quantity to keep the price high. Also the spices and medicinal herbs, but for now, not much more."
Elise is pleasantly surprised, "No wonder you're not worried about spending so much. You have even more than my father... much more. But more importantly, quartz deer? Aren't those extremely rare?"
Feicui Long replies, "In the Habsburg Empire and the surrounding nations, yes, due to excessive hunting. But in the Leechwald forest and its surroundings, there are many herds and free individuals. That's why I was planning to tame a male, and with that, his herd will follow."
Elise then nods: "Then that is a good idea, if we manage to breed them we'll have an incredible source of income. Half a kilo (1.10231 lb) of their meat is worth 50 silver coins, and considering they weigh between 150 kg and 250 kg, that would be from 15,000 to 25,000 silver coins per kilo of meat, or in other words, 250 gold coins or 2 platinum coins and 50 gold. The idea of the medicines and spices is good, I like it."
Elise says to him: "I have another idea to generate money. What if you sell cultivation products to your troops? I know you already provide them with food, shelter, salary, cultivation resources, and more, but if you sell extra items it could make them spend. After all, having extra healing potions besides the ones assigned is a greater guarantee of survival, in addition to other things. I also recommend opening an inn or tavern to earn money by selling alcohol and prepared food to the troops and the slaves, and it would also improve their mood. I also suggest you prioritize the market for the same reasons over the workshops, of course after finishing the stable."
Feicui Long nods, happy with these suggestions, and says: "I think those ideas are great, so let's do it. Well, I think that's all for the first part, let's move on to the second part of the agenda."
Elise raises her hand to request to speak. Feicui Long, curious, nods and gives her the floor, then Elise says: "Young master, don't you think we should choose a name first? A name is essential for almost everything, even my father gave unique names to his businesses, because it not only serves to attract people from outside, but also makes the people inside feel a greater sense of familiarity, belonging, and connection to that place. I believe it's better to do it quickly, especially for your goal of getting the slaves to stay after being freed."
Feicui Long thinks about it and she is right, he hasn't had time to name it nor to think of one, so he looks at everyone and says: "Does anyone have an idea for the name?"
Mariane raises her hand and says: "Master, what if we call it the village of the Emerald-Golden Dragon?"
Feicui Long looks at her and thinks, then shakes his head and says: "Setting aside the risk that our enemies suspect the village's link with me, especially since who would suspect a poor little village, this could bring us trouble. On one hand, Adolf's followers hunt down my kind, so we would attract enemies quickly. On the other hand, it could be perceived as disrespectful by the dragon clan, the clan of space and time, or even by my temple, and I don't want to have to calm down my followers or reveal my identity in the process."
Mariane only says, a little discouraged: "Alright, master."
Feicui Long, seeing her like that, pats her head and says: "It's okay, at least you tried, little one. Anyone else?"
The twins, Callista and Melina, raise their hands and say: "I think the Emerald Empire would be fine."
Feicui Long, Mariane, and everyone else look at them astonished. The twins don't understand why, and Feicui Long then says to them: "That's not possible, little ones. That is the name of the force of the absolute sovereign and the absolute clan. Although they don't persecute the exclusive use of that name nor send their vassals to secure it, it is frowned upon by many to use it. Even so, some still do, but also within the dragon clan it is a sacred name, since the absolute sovereign was originally a celestial lightning emerald dragon. I don't want them to think I'm trying to usurp their fame."
Feicui Long also has to pat the twins' heads and then says again: "Anyone else?"
Soon various ideas start coming and going, such as Dragon's Rise, the Village of the Thousand Poisons due to the Thousand Poisons Mountain Range, Dragon's Nest, Dragon City, Divine Dragon City, etc. That's when Isabella speaks and says: "Why don't you name it Skystars like your master? You can do it in her honor."
Feicui Long looks at her and suddenly gets an idea and smiles, saying: "No, I can honor her in other ways. My master's name is known by very few, that would draw too much attention, but I can do this..."
Feicui Long stops abruptly to add some mystery to what he's about to say. This works, because everyone looks at him with intrigue, and then he continues: "I'll name it Sky Dragon City. Although for now it can barely be considered a village or town, and as for the empire, I'll call it Dragon Sky. This is in the name of a beautiful lady I fell in love with at first sight."
Everyone is confused thinking about who it could be, except for Isabella, who blushes. Feicui Long, for his part, pulls her close with his arm to hug her affectionately and then steals a kiss from her in front of everyone. That's when everyone understands who this woman is. With that, the second part of the agenda can finally begin...