Chapter 348: Too Scared to Look

"So, it"s okay to ignore her messages?" Gala asked with a frown as if she was displeased. "Is it that hard to admit that you care a lot about her?"

Arthur paused, his hand turning into a fist. Then, he turned toward her and shouted.

"Do you want to know how I feel right now?" He said as he waved his hand. "I feel sick and tired of your games. You say that you want people to feel things, but that"s just a lie. There"s no reason other than your desperate need for others to be as miserable as you are."

"At least I know that I"m miserable," Gala answered him calmly, despite his rage and hurtful words. "I accepted what I am long ago. Did you?"

"Do you think that acceptance gives you the right to make others miserable? You try to make people care about each other, knowing that the end will be ugly. No, you want it to be ugly because that makes your end a little more bearable."

"Well done, Seika. That"s what I want. Nothing changed. You"re still just a child that is too scared to look in the mirror." Gala laughed as she stood up. She tapped the hand mirror on the table, and it lit up ten times. "She left you ten messages, ten!" 

"You hid them from me." Arthur glared at her coldly for painting him as the villain.

"Because you acted as if you didn"t care, even when I gave you the mirror. Even after more than two days, you didn"t care to ask. I would have given you the messages if you asked just once, but the moment that you do ask, you tell me that you don"t care."

"You want me to weep every day because I miss her?" Arthur laughed. "I need to build a city, but you want me to be a desperate lover just like you. I"m not, and I"ll never be."

"You won, Seika." Gala smiled at him. "You"ve hurt me more than I can hurt you. That"s what you prefer, right? You would rather hurt others, to make them bleed, rather than get hurt yourself. Even if they were people that you care about. No, exactly if they were people that you care about."

"Leave," Arthur said through gritted teeth. Gala smiled and bowed formally.

"Yes, my lord." She said in a mocking voice before she walked out, leaving the hand mirror on the table. Arthur looked at the artifact glowing subtly in the night.

He walked toward the mirror slowly, his rage still burning within him. He wasn"t angry because of Gala"s words, but because they were right. Arthur didn"t want to care. He didn"t dare to because he knew that he was bound to be disappointed.

"Hm, is this working? Can you hear me?" Dia"s voice came from the hand mirror. Her nose and mouth were the only things shown in the message because she tried to speak too close to the artifact. "The witch must have left this. Why did she..."

It seems not even Dia was aware of Gala leaving the artifact for her. However, she adjusted the angle, and Arthur got to see her face for the first time in a while.

"Good morning, Seika." She said with a smile.

***

The next day, they had a conference meeting for the department heads to report their progress. Arthur wanted to check the progress himself, but he wanted to establish a proper system before things get too hectic.

"After the Seika"s aid, we cleared up most of the small monsters around the area. We set out traps, but a wall would be necessary." Big Bear reported.

"Building a wall is difficult for our current numbers." The Knight of Courage rebuked. "Furthermore, we"re still in the development stage. Houses are still being built, shops are still being constructed, and even the roads are still not mapped."

"We need someone to outline the city." Arthur frowned. "We can"t simply build wherever we want and expect to end up with something decent."

"That brings us to the list I made." The Knight of Courage said, taking out the list. "We don"t have an architect, but there"s someone we can invite. He"s the person who built the capital of Livia and several other smaller cities."

"Invite him." Arthur nodded.

"The fees will be..." The Knight of Courage was hesitant.

"Tell him that we"ll provide him with rare resources of architecture, books, and blueprints," Arthur said. "There will be no other payment."

"I understand."

"Gruen?" Arthur turned toward the dwarf.

"The smithy is underway, but the number of people we have is severely limiting." Gruen shook his head. "The builders that we brought along are building houses, workshops, and shops."

Arthur nodded and opened his legacy, choosing the Professions choice from the list. A long list appeared.

[Profession.]

-      Workers: 33.

-      Knights: 30

-      Salespeople: 15.

-      Blacksmiths: 10.

-      Constructors: 5.

-      Potions apprentices: 4.

-      Managers: 2.

-      Potion Masters: 1.

-      Knights Captain: 1.

-      t.i.tled Knights: 1.

Their sum would be 102, as it appeared in his stats. There were sub-professions as well. For example, workers included builders, cooks, maids, the butler. However, they were all counted as workers.

"We have 15 salespeople," Arthur noted as he turned toward Gruen. "They are useless at the moment, as we don"t have shops right now. So let them aid the workers."

"I understand." Gruen nodded.

"We also have ten blacksmiths. Ask them to help in building the smithy. Their pay will be increased according to the amount of work they put in. This way, we might finish it during this week."

"Seika, mobilizing these people for labor might make them upset," Ma warned them. "I think it would be better if we change it into something more personalized."

"What do you mean?" Arthur was intrigued.

"Let"s tell the blacksmiths that whoever builds the best smithy, they will be the Head Blacksmith of the department, having authority over others. This way, each blacksmith will have their smithy while also motivating them to work."

"The best smithy?" Gruen frowned. "We only want one at the moment."

"Would that be the case in a month?" Ma shook his head. "I think it"s best if we delay the smithy for now, as it"s not our top priority. We need to make a proper place before we launch our campaign to bring people into Hidden City. The people care about housing and services. Other things can follow."

"Ma is right." Arthur nodded. "Do that. The smithy will be delayed, but how do you plan on solving the issue with the lack of workers? A single blacksmith can"t build a smithy alone."

"That"s up for them to handle. They can negotiate with the workers." Ma smiled. "This way, we will ignite the trade among the people instead of handling everything ourselves."

"A capitalist mindset." Arthur was amused as he nodded in approval. He could feel Gruen"s displeasure because Ma was someone he hired, but he didn"t mind a little compet.i.tion.

"Ma, is everything going smoothly for the dock"s project?"

"I"ve reached out to the nearby cities, and I"ve received an invite to attend a meeting over the matter."

"Great, head over there and solve it."

"They asked for the Seika himself, saying that there were other matters that both cities could benefit from," Ma said, and Arthur frowned.

"I understand, arrange for the visit for now and let them prepare." Arthur turned toward Big Bear. "Captain, what are the recent developments after our arrival?"

"The battle that the Seika had changed the balance among the two tribes. The Ogres are currently weakened but nowhere near defeated. As for the druids, they seem to be cautious and prepared."

"Great, then it"s finally time to visit them." Arthur stood up. He looked at Gala"s empty seat with a frown. "Where is she?"

"Ah, in the workshop," Gruen said with awkwardness.

The fact that she didn"t attend the meeting proved that she was still mad. Arthur sighed and dismissed the rest before teleporting toward the workshop, which was a large house he built.

"I thought I would find you brewing." Arthur found Gala sitting and reading a book.

"I have some novels to finish before dying," The witch closed the book before she turned toward him. "What do you want?"

Arthur wasn"t used to her cold att.i.tude, but he could understand why she was mad. He took a chair in front of her and sat down.

"You were right. I did try to hurt you." Arthur said as he looked at his hand. "I wouldn"t rather hurt you than get hurt. I don"t want neither, but that"s not possible, it seems." He sighed.

"And?"

"I"m sorry." Arthur turned toward the side as he apologized. "You are leaving, so let"s have fun until then."

"You"ve heard the messages." Gala"s lips curled into a sly smile. "What did she talk about? No, how many messages did you send to her?"

"... Eleven."

"Hehe, just one message more? That"s a start." Gala stood up. "Alright, I forgive you. Let"s go coax some druids."

"You were listening..." Arthur was speechless before grinning. "Let"s go."