[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-city-of-desire-kingdom-building":3,"chapter-city-of-desire-kingdom-building-city-of-desire-kingdom-building-chapter-634":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","City of Desire [Kingdom Building]",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1846754,2449,"Chapter 637: Incentive","city-of-desire-kingdom-building-chapter-634",634,"\u003Cp>Proofread By Thomas F\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Carla Salt\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>'Five minutes more,' I thought as I looked at the clock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I have been sitting in Ms. Sonya Salazar's waiting room for ten minutes. I have a meeting with her and hope it will be successful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There are a lot of things riding on it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I received a rejection from the merchant states, so I came here. I am not alone. Officials from the city hall have also come, but I am here personally for this meeting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If I succeed, they will take over. If I return with them, there is another place we will go to, but we know we will be rejected there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We are going there to show, we have options. If they don't take the offer, someone else will.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Miss Salt, Mage Yatra is ready for you,\" said the secretary, bringing me out of my thoughts. I nodded and followed her out of the waiting room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I am in the Storm Tower, one of the top floors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I could feel the powerful crackling energy that raised all the hair on my body—walls of grey stone veined with glowing blue crystal and floors of polished obsidian.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is not obsidian but an extremely expensive marble. That is capable of storing large amounts of mana.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is why it's so damn hard to control my emotion here. Every moment, I felt like that roaring power would strike me. Turning me to ashes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I have been to the tower several times, but not on this floor. Usually, I deal with officials; this time, I will deal with one of the most important people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The daughter of Grand Mage Salazar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When I reached the greyish-blue metal doors, they opened on their own. I stopped for a moment before walking inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There are two people there. One is Sonya Salazar, whom I have come to meet, but there is also her brother, Artur Salazar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Remus and I didn't like the man, but that doesn't mean we will not deal with him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Lord Artur, Lady Sonya,\" I greeted the two.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The beautiful blond woman looked at me impassively with her pale blue eyes, while the man looked at me with disgust and equal measures of lust.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Take a seat, Miss Salt,\" offered Sonya Salazar after a second of silence. \"Thank you, my lady,\" I thanked and sat down before them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Silver had asked for a meeting from us. I hope it is not for some frivolous reason,\" said Artus, turning his expression contemptuous. \"It is for a genuine reason, my lord,\" I replied with a small smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What does he want? Silver had been vague in the letter,\" asked Sonya.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The City of Greltheaven would like a loan for its expansion,\" I stated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hell no! It is a wasteland pit that will be conquered by the undead soon!\" declined Artur immediately with a rude and dismissive voice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn't say anything to that and turned to his sister. It made him irritated and angry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You should understand, Miss Carla. It is very risky to give your city a loan.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"As my brother had stated, it could be attacked by the undead at any time. If that happens, we will lose the money we might give you,\" she replied, shaking her head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It is why we are willing to provide you with an incentive,\" I stated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What incentive?\" asked Artur immediately, with greed flashing in his eyes. \"Emotion essence, of course,\" I replied with a smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"How much?\" he asked excitedly. Further irritating his sister. \"It will depend on the loan amount you are willing to provide us,\" I replied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Earlier, we used emotion essence the wrong way. We shouldn't have sold it. We should have used it as an incentive instead of like a good.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If they give us a loan, we will sell them more emotion essence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We will repay the loan with money, while emotional essence will be used as barter to obtain things that couldn't be obtained with money.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"How much of a loan do you want?\" she asked. I didn't reply immediately to that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instead, I placed the file in front of her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It's too much!\" said Artus. Yes, we want a massive amount as the expansion won't be small. Remus has ambition, and it is my job to get him the money required.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We do not want it all at once,\" I replied with a smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It is truly a massive amount. You will have to sell a lot of essence for it,\" Sonya said, putting the file down. I shook my head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We will be paying you with the money. Emotion essence will be an incentive,\" I corrected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then it is not worth the risk,\" said Artur, and I smiled. \"That is your decision,\" I replied, and I could see the surprise appeared on his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Showing desperation is terrible. I have to show it as if I have an option.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That is why I have created an itinerary of places I will visit after Namdar. If their spies are moderately good enough, I am sure they have already learned about it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"How much incentive in emotion essence are you willing to provide?\" asked Sonya again, and her expression changed ever so slightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They desperately want emotional essence despite having three legacies in their city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When I went to merchant states before, they declined to give me a loan. They wanted far more and many other things that we cannot provide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They could negotiate that way because they have the ability. Namdar does not.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Empire is in shambles. If any threat came, they would have to fight it themselves; they could not count on empire. Namdar is strong, with Grand Mage leading it, but Vris'Alud has killed a Grand Mage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is a powerful country, and if they try to come to Namdar, it will need everything; it has to fight it, and it isn't the only enemy they have.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"For each tranche of the loan, we will provide eight times the current emotion essence we provide you as an incentive,\" I replied, and I felt them activate the skills to control their expression and guard their emotion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I felt Artur project his skills toward me, but it was immediately repelled back to his shock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A moment later, a spark of shock appeared in the woman's eyes, though it disappeared almost instantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn't have to use my aura; he may have a powerful class, but so do I. Castellan of Mist is a level class and a powerful one at that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had felt it was only slightly weaker than Remus's Lord Class, which is the most powerful Lv. 30 class.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The amount is too low; its value is only a small part of what we will give you as the loan. If your city gets conquered, we will lose a massive amount of money,\" she stated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"As I had said, it is an incentive, but you are also right my lady; it is a massive amount of money and a big risk for you,\" I agreed, repeating the essence as an incentive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It is why we propose that the contract will be signed with the city and the Velvet Garden, and it will be placed at its core.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So, even if the city gets captured. Velvet Garden will pay back the loan,\" I replied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is a massive amount of money. Even Namdar wouldn't risk losing that much money and would want the guarantee.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What would happen if the legacy itself is destroyed? I heard there will be a clash of Velvet Garden and Tranquill Bathhouse,\" she asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A small smile appeared on my face hearing that. It is not easy to hide such things.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It is a risk that you will have to take, but let me assure you, the Velvet Garden is very well prepared to deal with any challenge, including Tranquill Bathhouse,\" I replied confidently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Caena and Remus succeeded with better results than we had expected. However, it pushed Remus so hard that he needed a whole day to recover.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The amount is still low. We cannot offer you that much money for such a small amount of emotional essence,\" she said, and I smiled internally.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were willing, and it excited me, but soon, I controlled my emotions and sighed visibly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We cannot offer you more emotion essence, but we will add something more precious to sweeten the deal,\" I replied, and I could see their eyes turning curious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We will provide you with three drops of core essence with each tranche, that is, on condition that you provide us with things we need in exchange that you declined before,\" I added to their shock.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ten drops. We want ten drops,\" said Artur hurriedly, to the irritation of his sister.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is a good game they are playing. He acted greedily and aggressively while she remained calm and irritated. They will have to do better to fool me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The emotions they have are real. He is greedy, while she is irritated by him, but it is also a play, and quite a good one at that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Three drops is the most we could offer,\" I replied, with a tone of finality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We have the core essence, and Mok's Core gave our reserves a big boost, but it is precious, and we have our plans for it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I will take this to The Lady of Storms. If she accepts, we will start negotiations, and let me say it already: you will need to offer more if you need that amount,\" she stated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn't say anything to that, and a minute later, I was out of the office, with hope burning in my heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tap on Patreon below to read over 20 Advanced Chapters.Become aFree Memberand enjoy theCharacter Art, Maps, and other interesting things.\u003C\u002Fp>",1640,"2026-06-09T06:55:03.455Z",1,"novelbin.me","90a93bc96fcc01d7841cf79c784f377bae2349eecb8c61b0641680c04de502eb","city-of-desire-kingdom-building-chapter-635","city-of-desire-kingdom-building-chapter-633",917,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fcity-of-desire-kingdom-building-cover.jpg"]