Rise of the Legendary Emperor

Chapter 221: Taking a tour

"Lord Clemo, when the winter starts, I want a full list of people in Agoria as well as their skills, details, and everything you can get"

"It'll be done, your majesty" Lord Clemo nodded. Warren would do the same in Emir but it wouldn't be hard for Warren as Clemo since the number of refugees going to Emir was way less than Agoria.

"What about the seeds the village chiefs asked?"

"The farmers have already planted them, your majesty, last time I've met them, they said the crops would be ripe to harvest in a few months"

"Alright, now what's his name? The family which built ships"

"Her, your majesty, Herta Reyn, her family built ships many years ago until the previous king ordered them to stop building ships and hired fishing ships from Monivelle"

"Set up a meeting with them, tomorrow"

As he said, he stood up from his throne

"Now, let's go see the construction works"

Reghys walked beside him while Arwen walked in front of Don with his bow at ready as the remaining guards protected Don and Reghys from behind.

"Show us the way"

Don gestured at Lord Clemo to lead the way as he walked beside Arwen to show them the construction site.

"Rain"

When they stepped outside the castle, Reghys rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"You better get used to it"

Even though his face was cold and emotionless, she was sure that he's laughing now.

"Let me grab an umbrella, Lady Reghys"

Just as Lord Clemo was looking for an umbrella, he saw her snapping her fingers and in a flash, a bubble made of thin glistening energy appeared around them.

"That works too"

Unlike the first time he came to Agoria, the old mud roads were now being replaced by square-shaped blue stones that were neatly arranged and built. 

Since the dwarves fixed and built a new sewage system, the rainwater was flowing into the sewage rather than flooding the roads and houses. Far from the castle, Don could see the refugees working on the roads as the dwarves still had to build more roads and paths.

For talented builders like the dwarves, it wouldn't take much longer to build entirely new roads and fix the existing ones in a few months of time.

If he had more dwarves under his command, he could put them to work on both the kingdoms and develop them simultaneously.

While following Lord Clemo to one of the construction sites, a group of dwarves, refugees, and the citizens of Agoria were building new houses from scratch as the old houses were demolished by the dwarves to salvage some usable materials and use them to build new better ones.

The citizens who previously saw Don quickly bowed their heads as the refugees who didnt see him craned their heads and gawked at him.

"How many houses have we built so far?"

DOn asked Lord Clemo and motioned the people to continue their work

"At the end of this week, we are finishing the houses in the capital, your majesty, as for the villages, Stodemar said it would take them three more months to build new homes but he sent a group to fix the houses in the villages to endure this coming winter "

Lord Clemo didn't know Stodemar's a dwarf as Stodemar only talked to him with his helmet on yet, Clemo always wondered whether he's a human or not because of his thick accent and bulky body. It was very fortunate that the black armor made the dwarves look taller than their real height or the whole kingdom would have guessed their identity despite the helmet.

Eventually, after walking for a few minutes, Don saw an elegant big three-floor building near the noble district. When he got closer, he saw some dwarves were fitting the windows on the top floor while the others were carrying huge boxes into the building.

"Me king"

A dwarf who saw Don and Reghys came running as the others stopped working and surrounded him and bowed.

"Me king, I'm called Huggor Strongstone, Captain Stodemar put me in charge o' this"

The dwarf wanted to remove his helmet and show proper respect to Don but he was strictly ordered not to remove their helmets while in Agoria by Stodemar so he stood before Don awkwardly scratching his helmet.

"Follow me, me king, let me show ye tha inside"

"I can come inside now right?"

Lord Clemo looked very excited as the dwarf nodded.

"Haven't you seen the inside yet?"

"No your majesty, they didn't let me in, they told me that they would let others inside only after you"

"Well, next time I'll order them to let you in if you behave"

"Thank you, your majesty, wait! What?"

Don already started to walk as he quickly ran behind him.

When Lord Clemo stepped inside, he gaped at the splendid sight before him. The floor was tiled in fine marble, which made every step echo. chandeliers made golden colors dance across the luxurious hall. Embroidered silk sofas and fancy tables made of fine oak arranged in a spacious manner. The twin doors that led into the lobby were a pristine white with golden handles as The reception counter before the twin door was made of amber-colored wood and a green granite top. Exquisite paintings hung from the rich, white-colored walls and the edges of the walls were painted in golden color which perfectly matched the color of the chandeliers. Even the door hinges were engraved with swirls and elegant designs. 

"These paintings?"

Don saw these paintings before in Amber's room and looking at them now, he realized that she found a place to showcase her other talents too.

"I'm impressed"

Reghys would never say this very often but even she was awed by the dining area of their new restaurant.

Lord Clemo was running his hand on the table clothes and feeling the softness of the sofas as he was longing to rest his bottom on the sofa.

"What do you think, Lord Clemo?"

Don asked Lord Clemo who was running around the place like an excited child.

"Your majesty, this is wonderful, how did you pull this off in this short amount of time?"

"I didn't, my men did"

Don patted the dwarf on the back and showed his appreciation. The dwarf was brimming with pride and joy inside

"Me king, come on, I'll show tha cooking area"

Don nodded and followed the dwarf to the cooking area located behind the dining hall.

"Your majesty"

"Me king"

When he entered the cooking area, he was greeted by the workers who were fitting the high-end burners that produce high heat flame and ovens.

Don had no idea about some of the devices around the area but its Amaryll's area of expertise, not his.

"We tweaked tha burners, me king, so ye don't have ta worry aboot tha soot stains"

The dwarf started to explain all kinds of things they did and didn't as Don kept nodding his head and tried to make sense out of these things.

After the dining hall and the cooking area, Don followed the dwarf to the third floor ignoring the second floor, and entered one of the rooms on the third floor. According to the dwarf, there were only five rooms on the third floor unlike the twenty rooms on the second floor.

The room he in was huge and didn't look like an inn's room at all but more like a guest room in his palace. The bed was king-sized with pure white, fancy cotton sheets. There was a fireplace to keep the room warm and comfy, a sprawling leather sofa in front of the fireplace, and, on the other side of the room, the floor-to-ceiling windows were like a private terrace. Every item like the table, candleholders, even the chandeliers in the room seemed like made of marble. 

"Your majesty, look at this"

Lord Clemo was already awed by the room's fanciness but when he opened the door to the attached restroom, he was in for another surprise.

The restroom's walls were fitted with shining pearl-like tiles and the picture of clouds and sun was painted on the ceiling to add an extra charm to the area.

"What is this?"

Lord Clemo stood under the circular metal that had hundreds of tiny holes as the dwarf proudly walked near the lever on the wall.

"We call this shower, me king, using this, we don't longer need to get the water from the well," Huggor proudly proclaimed. "It is not necessary to use the same bathwater for days and look for the maid to replace the water. If you want to take a bath, you simply have to stand under the shower and pull the lever."

Lord Clemo jumped back when the water rushed out of the showerhead.

"Where does the water come from?" Lord Clemo was confused as Arwen stuck his hand out and touched the water, "It's warm"

"In simple words, Huggor"

Don said as he didn't want the dwarf to lecture them about this shower for a long time.

"We attached a tank full of water behind this wall, me king, Lord Nik"

Don quickly cleared his throat as the dwarf quickly realized that Lord Clemo should not know about Nikalas.

"Tha runes an' tha device attached ta tha pipes wou' force tha water from tha tank an' let it flow with a force through this shower head, me king. A single low-quality life stone cou' keep this shower running for three ta four month"

"Low-quality life stone?!"

Lord Clemo couldn't believe what he had just heard

"We need to spend wealth to make more, Lord Clemo"

This whole room was bigger than Lord Clemo's living room and fancier than even Don's chamber in his castle and Lord Clemo shuddered to think how much it might cost to stay a night in this place for a night.