Whispers of a Dead Empire

Chapter 70

I sat up and stretched. I felt fully restored and happy for once, and honestly, it was really lovely. With one last stretch, I stood up and gestured for my map to open to see what was going on. Three more parties of adventurers had gotten into my domain, and two were currently fighting at the stronghold, though they looked to be on the losing end of things. Another quick look over showed I was also at my essence max. Which was extremely exciting for me.

However, I will assume that upgrading will use all my essence, so I have to hold off and focus on respawning mobs first. Otherwise, I would only leave myself in a vulnerable spot. I quickly spawned in two more platoons of the undead with a heavy mix of all the templates at my disposal and sent them with the reserve force towards the stronghold. That should do wonders for keeping the adventurers interested in stuff and fortifying the surrounding area for a bit longer. The last thing that I did was go through and check my treasure chests out to make sure that they weren't plundered. The ones that were I refilled and found a new place for them.

With that task done, I watched the adventurers fight at the stronghold. So far, they seemed to hold their own, but I saw that they were slowly getting encircled from my bird's-eye view. I stared at them for a moment before I dismissed the screen. It would be better for me not to see their faces. That way, I wouldn't be overly affected by their deaths. But speaking of which, I think a party must have wiped early; otherwise, my essence wouldn't have filled up as fast as it did.

Quickly, I went through the domain and saw that they were wandering through shambling husks of their former selves. I counted at least eight of them that were zombies. Though for me, that begged the question. What determines different undead when they died, or was it deterministic on how they died? I stared at the undead adventurers for a bit before I shrugged the thought away. I'm sure that I would find that out, eventually, at least.

I guess I would have to have someone collect them to put them to rest. They deserved that much, at least. I panned the map out a bit, selected all eight of them, and directed them towards a spot where I could teleport them away from the central part of the domain and take their equipment. More than likely, we would just redistribute it through the ranks, with the veteran undead getting first dibs next to the bosses.

As the undead was busy traveling to the destination that I had in mind, I sat back on my bed a bit and wiped away my bleary eyes. I was getting used to all the administration that I was doing. Thankfully, I didn't really have to deal with the troop placements. If I had to micromanage everything to that degree, I would probably lose my mind. I cleared my throat and saw the door open as Alessia walked in. Her hair was braided this time, and she was wearing a fresh uniform. "Good morning Alessia." I flashed her a warm smile as I stood up and quickly changed clothing.

"Good morning, my lady. Did you sleep well?" She asked as she gave me a bow.

"Yeah, better than I have in a long time." I shook out my cloak and grabbed a stack of new clothing that I kept near my bed.

"I'm glad. Is there anything I can do for you today?" Alessia stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.

I sat down in my chair and fixed my hair the best I could. I felt dirty, but I didn't want to go up to the lake, nor did I want to create one down here. At least not until I had enough essence saved up to do something like that. "No, not really; I have no actual plans other than lounging around down here for the time being."

She stepped up behind me, and I stiffened slightly as I felt a pair of cold hands touch my scalp, knocking mine away. "Then let's spend some time together; you are always out and about. Take some time for yourself."I relaxed a bit as I let her work on my hair, and I couldn't help but chuckle. "It just seems like you want to keep me for yourself today, Alessia."

"Perhaps. Is there anything that you particularly want to do?" Her fingers moved through my hair with ease, and I could feel it getting braided. Honestly, it was times like this that I missed Earth. I wish I could lounge around all day and watch some T.V or close my eyes and listen to music. But alas, here I am, a prisoner in a land of my design, "I'm not sure what they're really is for us to do." I mulled it over, which sadly took a bunch more time than I thought it would. I mean, I was so used to doing stuff on my phone and whatnot that I never really thought about the non-electronic stuff there was.

At least until it hit me. "Alessia, do you know how to play cards?" I asked as I quickly brought up my menu and quickly created them."I can't say that I do. What did you have in mind?" Her fingers kept combing through my hair as I relaxed more and relished the feeling.

"Well, we could play a bunch of them, a few betting games, or just a few for fun. I'll teach a few that I have in mind." I told her as I quickly created a batch of fifty-two cards. However, instead of creating the traditional card set, I kept the spades and hearts suites. I ended up making a suite of stars and swords for the rest.

"I would enjoy that." Her hands quickly finished the task at hand, and she sauntered over to my view and sat down on the chair across from me.I nodded and quickly began creating them as I sat back in my chair.

"Good, good. If you don't mind, would you mind gathering Hector and Amari? Games like this would be far more fun than with just two people." As I started creating poker chips and various coins to bet with, I told her. I mean, you can't play cards and not bet anything. The only thing missing was alcohol. Maybe when that one adventurer comes back, I'll see about getting some.

A faint look of disappointment flashed through her eyes as she stood up and gave me a soft bow. "Of course, empress." Her words seemed to be flat and expressionless, and I mentally frowned at how different they felt at that moment.

I flashed her a smile and reached out to her. "Don't be sad; I'll figure out something for us to do later."

She froze for a second before her smile returned. "Of course, my lady." With one last bow, she left the room.

I turned my attention back to the cards and chips as they were brought into existence, and I grinned. Oh, I was about to take all their money. But I suppose I should teach them first, so that way, I won't feel as bad about it later. Speaking of money, I probably should start devising a currency and setting up shops around the domain. So at least that way, I can start building the economy up in a direction that I like. I stared at the pile of coins on my table and thought it over.

I'll probably just stick with what I know from Earth. Paper cash, set up close to what I know. With my lowest cash denomination sitting at a one-dollar bill. The next will be a two-dollar, five, ten, twenty-five, fifty, and then a one-hundred-dollar bill. Mostly since I didn't want bills higher than that floating around since it would be a pain in the ass to keep track of. Honestly, the whole thought of it was bothersome, but the things that I do just to make this place more realistic.

The only thing that I wasn't sure how to do is currency exchange, mostly since I wasn't sure how to make it have value. I mean, I hardly paid attention in my economics class, so it was above me. But let's be real here. I can say the money is worth the amount is written on it, and no one can really say otherwise; as the domain grows, I can quickly instill taxes on vendors and force adventures to use my currency to buy specific stuff, so I can keep a supply of money coming in to help back mine.

I shrugged and quickly created a template for each denomination I had in mind. The standard color theme between them would be a deep vibrant blue, matched with a bright purple that filled the borders and then filled in various blotches with a reflective hue.

In the middle of the first bill, I went with a sword clad in lightning impaled into the ground, and a star burned behind it in the distance. It was simple, and it would be nice to start everything.

For the next one, I went with the face of the first emperor of Asteria, which I modeled after one of my favorite historical figures, Flavius Belisarius. Though sadly, I had a little reference for him outside of a few artists' renditions, I was using my imagination here, so there was no reason I couldn't do things as I saw fit. So I took the standard drawing of him that I've seen and made it a bit more stylized and a bit more severe, though my memory was lacking in that regard. I just did various designs that I thought were appropriate for the next few bits of currency. I just did a stylistic clock for the five, with the hands stuck on midnight. The ten was of a palace with dozens of towers that honestly had no purpose other than to just exist and take up space. The twenty-five-dollar bill had the portrait of a female, who I named Theodora. She had a soft face, with heir that stopped at the top of her shoulders. As for more details than that, it was a bit harder since I was doing this for a paper currency. Otherwise, I would have gone all out. With that finished, I will now dub her Theodora.

I went with a front view of the coliseum that I would eventually build for the fifty-dollar bill and put a sun above it. Finally, for the last bill, I decided I would go with my face, and since no adventurer has seen it, no one would know that it was me they were looking at. So with that thought process, I decided I wanted to go with a portrait design of me, with my hair in a woven warrior braid. Was it narcissistic of me? Perhaps, but who was gonna tell me I couldn't do it? Happy with all of that, I created a bunch of the cash, so at least we would have something to gamble with that would be of use later since I planned on phasing out the usage of coins the best I could.