Chapter 321: Million-Gold Maintenance Fee

After chatting with Saixili for a while about how to generate revenue for the Tower of Time, the two left Niya's Study together. Saixili still had work to do at the Material Department, and Xia Duo also needed to make a trip to Savile Town.

As for how to generate revenue, no conclusion was reached. Xia Duo left a message for Aiboke via the Tower Spirit and then left the Mage Tower.

Niya had sent a message stating there were three trustworthy and reliable people in the Tower of Time, but due to communication interference, Xia Duo had only heard two names clearly; he did not know who the other one was.

Perhaps it was the Personnel Supervisor Depake, perhaps a student of Lord Aipusi, or even a core member pretending to be an outer member.

Just like suspicion, trust is also a very subtle relationship. Xia Duo could not let his mind wander, otherwise, everyone would seem like a possibility.

Upon arriving at Savile Town, inside the Town Mayor's office at the Town Hall, Xia Duo looked at the person before him—Saier Town Mayor, one of the four people Niya had left a message about as being trustworthy and reliable.

With Aiboke having paved the way in advance, plus Xia Duo arriving with Niya's Scepter, Saier Town Mayor immediately summoned the Savile Territory's military Supervisor Keyaan and Commercial Director Dailike.

Of these two, Xia Duo was more familiar with Dailike; he was the father of Aideliqi and Aidelian, and had previously acted as a go-between for Xia Duo with the Hans, Shanjin, and Silaiwen chambers of commerce.

The twenty-some slaves currently on Xia Duo's Territory were gathered from the Inner Land by the Silaiwen Chamber of Commerce, and currently, all three of these chambers of commerce were serving Xia Duo.

Seeing Dailike again now, Xia Duo felt quite a sense of kinship.

As for the other, Keyaan, he was tall and robust, wearing a set of armor that was clearly a Magic Item, and the one-handed sword hanging at his waist also flickered with a faint Magic Aura.

Overall, he gave off a feeling of being very strong and not to be trifled with.

Xia Duo knew that his son, the Mage Bote, was also a student of Lord Aipusi, though his achievements were not high; he was only a Primary Mage.

Xia Duo had just seen Bote in the conference room on the Public Level of the Tower of Time earlier.

"Lord Xia Duo!" Unlike in the past when Xia Duo had to take the initiative to greet them or even bow, this time, as soon as they arrived, they took the initiative to bow to Xia Duo.

On Earth, there is a saying that "a new emperor brings new courtiers." Their authority was entirely dependent on Lord Aipusi, and not even the Savile Territory; in essence, they were just ordinary people with weak power.

Now, Xia Duo not only surpassed them in individual strength, but even within the Savile system they relied on for survival, his status was higher than theirs.

Thus, it was no surprise that they took the initiative to bow.

Xia Duo sat in the seat of honor, flipping through the Document of the territory's recent administrative summary brought by Saier Town Mayor, while listening to Dailike and Keyaan report on the territory's recent commercial activities and military movements.

By the time Xia Duo finished flipping through the entire summary document, they had just finished speaking. Xia Duo pushed the document on the table outward.

By this time, Xia Duo had gained an understanding of the basic situation of the Savile Territory. Of course, the Reality of a territory was certainly more than just this, but for the time being, he only needed to focus his attention on the money bag and the guns.

After weighing things, Xia Duo said slowly: "Territorial affairs remain as usual. I will not interfere too much, but at present, because of the special situation of the Tower of Time, I believe some of the territory's policies need to be adjusted."

As he spoke, he looked at Saier Town Mayor, "It is no longer realistic to mobilize a large amount of manpower and military force to develop the Green Pearl Forest. I think we can shift the direction to opening up a road leading to the Tower of Time."

Connecting to the Tower of Time is actually connecting the Savile Territory and Daxia Territory. Although there is already a waterway connection, wouldn't it be better to have an additional land route?

The more roads there are, the more connections can be made; this could also be considered some of Xia Duo's own selfish motives. However, connecting to the Tower of Time could also bring some psychological comfort to the locals of the Savile Territory.

After all, a Mage Tower that is completely invisible and whose location is unknown is clearly not the same concept as a Mage Tower known to be at the end of this road.

However, land routes also have many problems. Clearing a road in the forest is a difficult task, regardless of the danger or the maintenance of the road.

Thinking of this, Xia Duo added another sentence, "This matter does not need to be done immediately. Make a plan first! I will come to see it next time!"

"As for the commercial aspect, there are many things that need to be adjusted."

Speaking of this, Xia Duo looked at Dailike again. Although he had seen the world in terms of commerce (his experience on Earth), he was not very clear about the actual operations or even the unspoken rules of the current world.

"Dailike, I know that you have always been responsible for collecting Magic Items for the Tower of Time. This time, because of the special situation, a large amount of materials is needed, and it still needs to be collected by you."

As he spoke, Xia Duo handed over a stack of Parchment. This was a list of materials he and Saixili had discussed and compiled based on the repair progress of the Tower of Time.

Arranged by time, it was very detailed about how many materials needed to be collected by when.

Dailike took the list and only flipped through the first few pages, and a sense of absurdity actually arose in his mind. Could this be real?

Flipping to the end, the expression on Dailike's face became increasingly solemn. The schedule on it was too detailed; it was almost arranged by the day.

Looking at the handwriting again, it seemed it hadn't been written for long. Although Dailike was somewhat incredulous, his reason told him it was true.

"Lord Xia Duo, this—"

"What is on here, plus the original reserves of the Tower of Time, is what is needed for this repair project. To restore it to the previous reserve state, I will need you to put in more effort!"

"How is this possible!"

As the Commercial Director of the Savile Territory, and the de facto financial director, Dailike knew the territory's income situation all too well.

First of all, the output of the Tower of Time accounted for at least more than half. In addition, there were various taxes and fees, the bulk of which were transit fees and commercial taxes from foreign chambers of commerce passing through Savile Port.

Besides this, the territory also had a Silver Mine and an Iron Mine, but these were not direct Gold Coin, and required a certain cycle to be converted into Gold Coin.

As for the territory's specialties—grain and olive oil, the former was counted as the output of the Tower of Time, while the latter was used more to maintain relations with Konnifila City.

Dailike made a rough estimate of the many materials on this list; they were worth at least over a million Gold Coin, and there were some materials that could not be bought just by having enough Gold Coin.

"Difficult! Difficult! Difficult!"

Dailike's expression was full of difficulty. How could such a task be completed by him alone? "Lord Xia Duo, last year the Savile Territory's total net income was only a little over one hundred thousand Gold Coin. Now that there is suddenly a gap of over a million Gold Coin, this is really, this is really—"

Dailike did not say the words that followed, but the expression on his face was already very obvious.

Xia Duo certainly knew that it was unrealistic to let Dailike be responsible for all the materials, but the pressure had to be sufficient. He believed that people all have potential; they just need a little bit of pressure.

Of course, no matter how much pressure is applied, one cannot crush a person all at once. "You don't need to come up with a million Gold Coin immediately. Without considering the difficulty of implementation, come up with a few feasible plans. I will come again in two days!"

After saying this, Xia Duo stood up and said to Saier Town Mayor: "There are still things to deal with at the Tower of Time, so I will go back first. I will come back in two days. Regarding the two matters of opening the road and collecting materials, I ask Saier Town Mayor to keep an eye on them."

"Yes!"