Whispers of a Dead Empire

Chapter 71

"I fold." Alessia threw her cards down, along with Hector and Amari, and I chuckled evilly to myself as I reached out and pulled back the massive pile of chips. I felt a little bad about wiping them clean, but I enjoyed winning.

The chips scraped our gaming table as I pulled them backward and clattered all together as they fell into the small hole I made for them. "Shall we go for another?" I asked as I collected all the cards. Much to my dismay, everyone shook their heads. I wanted to be sad, but we have been doing this for the last few hours, so they were expected to want to be done. That and the fact I just cleaned the house.

It took them a bit to get the hang of the game, along with the proper use of the currency, but once they got it, the game went on pretty smoothly. I lost a few early, which was good. I wanted to get their hopes up and make them all in, so I could start raking in cash. Without a second thought, I quickly gathered all the chips and quickly started to count out everyone's winnings.

"Hector, for you, you win one hundred dollars even. Amari, you are up by one hundred and ten, and Alessia, you pulled in only fifty." I told them as I quickly counted the chips and distributed the cash. While they couldn't use it right now, I would have to start implementing ways shortly. I wonder if I could set up shop somewhere in here. That also means that I have to set up salaries and whatnot, and honestly, keeping track of it all sounds like a pain in my ass. Maybe if I could get kharon off of ferryman duty, I could change his position to the treasurer or something of the sort. It would be a lot safer than him dealing with adventurers every day. I distributed the money around the circle and saw that Alessia looked morose. "What's wrong?" I asked as I slid a fifty-dollar bill in her direction.

"I don't enjoy losing." She told me through a pout as she folded up the fifty and slid it into one of her pockets.

"Ah, when I first started playing this game, my chef cleaned me out once. I was devastated, but he taught me a lot that I know now." I told her as I quickly counted my earnings, which tallied up to well over three hundred dollars. If only my money had value here.

"It's still embarrassing." She told me as she huffed and crossed her arms."Yeah, yeah, yeah. "I told her as I tucked away my cash. "Just get good." I laughed as I stood up, and so did everyone else.

Alessia clearly didn't know how to react to my shit-talking, but really, it was fun to finally talk shit with people. Even if they were not totally alive. Ah, how have I missed this. It's been so long. I sat back in my chair in a mild euphoria for the first time in such a long time.

Alessia stared at the table with a frown on her face and her arms crossed across her chest. "Come on, Alessia, cheer up; it's just a game," I told her as I cleaned up the chips. The other two had already left the room, leaving us two behind.

"I know; it just isn't fair." She told me as she lounged across the table, with her head faced down. I could hardly hear her muffled voice."There there." I reached out and patted her back. I couldn't get over how cute it was seeing her looking so defeated. The poor girl must really take the loss pretty hard.

She sat there for a little longer as I neatly stacked all the chips up in all the spots. "Come along Alessia, I'm going to go work on some stuff." I gestured to her as I walked towards my office area. I had fun, so now it was work time. There was some stuff I needed to work on for the future of the domain.

I sat down at my desk and rifled through my notebook while Alessia shambled into my room, threw herself into her chair, grabbed one book that she likes to read, and sat there quietly brooding over her loss. I, on the other hand, fleshed out more ideas. Maybe I should make a central bank to help manage the cash and eventually place Kharon in some sort of management position. If I had some computers or something of the sort, that would be fantastic in keeping track of the cash flow. But here I am. It was times like this that I really wished that I had the technology. I would love to build some here if I could, but I had no idea how it worked outside of super-simplified basics.

Maybe I should start with electricity and then combine that with magic. Hell, with that, I could eventually make tech that could rival that of Earth. Well, not me specifically, but with what I can do. I quickly penned in my ideas and named it the Central Asterian Bank. As for the rest, I would figure it out, but it would be super helpful in the future, especially for storing all my excess stuff and whatnot

I could also include the adventurers. I can make an entire division strictly for storing their goods and hiding them away from the outside world. It would be like Switzerland, and it would help with cash flow and resources on my end. Mainly since I can recreate anything, I consume. Was I overextending myself on the matter? A little, but if I keep navigating myself into a spot that would be invaluable, then the chances of people attempting to kill me off become all the lower. All the while, I would benefit and only grow more potent at the end.

I bit the end of my pen as I kept working out plans and extensions for it. But I had to be sure that I wasn't cramming too much in at once. After all, I still had to consider the use of my resources. I brought up the town's design that I have been tinkering with and slotted in a bank near the center of the town, but then I also increased the projected size of the town slightly for it to make sense. With that done, I glanced at my essence bar and saw that it had filled up once more. I cracked my fingers and decided that I should have my companion here., I opened up my menu and quickly typed a message for Kharon, explaining that I wanted him here to guide me through upgrading my domain. With that being done, I sat back and cracked my fingers. Now it was time to wait."Ah, it's that time, isn't it, mistress?" Kharon appeared and gave me a swift bow.

Maybe a while ago, I would have been uncomfortable with it. But now, it was simply a part of the job. "Of course. Is there anything that I should keep in mind while I'm doing this?

"The only thing that is vital for you to know is that you will be vulnerable while the process goes through. You will lose access to most of your abilities for the upgrade duration. I recommend you check to ensure that your domain is in peak condition while the process unfolds." As he spoke, he took a seat across from me.

"How long will it take?" I nodded my head and motioned for my map to appear, and I looked it over. The reinforcements had already arrived at the stronghold, and all the treasure chests looked to be in peak condition. I religiously checked every facet of my domain, ensuring that everything was up to par.

"About forty-eight hours, however, you won't have to do anything other than press the button." Kharon crossed his legs and lowered his hood, revealing his skull. His red eyes seemed to fluctuate in brightness as he spoke.

I stared at him for a moment longer as I tried to figure out what he was feeling. Even after knowing him for all this time, I could never tell what the skeleton was thinking or feeling. I tore my gaze from him and quickly rifled through my menu and found the upgrade button. I stared at it for a moment as reality hit me. Everything was progressing, and with this, I was another step closer. Though it felt like with each step I took, what I really wanted seemed to change ever so slightly. At first, I wanted to go home, and I still do. But at the end of this all, I want to both keep this place and go home.

I pressed the button and confirmed that I wanted to upgrade the domain and held my breath as the screen flickered for a few tense seconds. I waited for something grand to happen, which disappointingly never did. Instead, in the corner of my eye, a timer popped up, counting down from forty-seven hours and fifty-nine minutes. With that task out of the way, I dismissed the screen and sat forward, lacing my fingers together. "Thank you for the help. While that is finishing, I have a proposition for you."

The skeleton mashed his teeth together and sat forward. "What would that be, mistress?"

"Well, once this upgrade finishes, and I have the resources built back up, I want to expand the domain quite a bit and create a town. On top of that expansion, I want to create an in dungeon currency, and I was curious if you wanted to run everything." I rifled through my papers and found the one that held my ideas about the currency and the bank and slid it over to him.

Kharon took the paper and read it over. "This.. is rather interesting. I've never heard of a currency not backed by anything."

"Yeah, it's how the economy in my world functions. The money has no value other than what we give through supply and demand, which is where I want to start here. I think we can set up a few merchant areas and sell some unique dungeon items that can only be exchanged with this currency. Which means I will need to set up a currency exchange rate." I sat back in my chair and rapidly sorted through the ideas in my mind.

"What is the precious metal exchange rate in your world?" My companion sat the paper down on the edge of my desk and sat back in his seat.

"That's an excellent question, and to be quite honest with you, it depends on the metal. However, I want to avoid using that since the value is so high. I don't want to create billions' worth of dollars. So I thought we might create our own exchange rate and use the outer world currency as a backing or reserve fund if we need it."

"That is a good idea. If we keep the money flowing, we should be able to get away with not having to create currency using our essence, which would keep the essence use somewhat efficient. I like the idea so far, mistress. However, there are some flaws that we should consider." Kharon sat forward and reached out to the stack of blank paper that I kept nearby, and I passed him my pen.

"What would that be?" I asked as I quickly tried to rack my mind for what I could have missed.

"Well, first off, we would need a workforce. Few would be smart enough to count or do the math with our current roster of the undead. Which would relegate the task solely to me for the time being. The next problem would be storage. While we can use you to teleport stuff around, eventually, it would grow to be impossible if the adventurers use this system frequently." As he spoke, the sound of my pen scratching punctuated the silence between his words.

He had two very valid points. I would have to create entities that were intelligent if I wanted them. As for storage, we would have to work on that later. For now, I wouldn't have an issue with moving stuff around and keeping it safe. I would hate for the adventurers to pillage a bank vault, though I would be sure to reinforce it significantly. "Other than that stuff, though, what do you think?"

"Overall, it's a fantastic idea. We can work out the kinks while waiting for the domain to finish upgrading. I have to applaud you with the stuff that you are coming up with, though. You are attempting to establish yourself as a political entity outside of developing a simple slaughter pit for adventurers to chug through. Which is just as strong as having a domain filled with powerful beasts."

I couldn't help but fill with pride as Kharon spoke. It made me happy that I was doing well in his eyes. Perhaps, after all, I wasn't a disappointment. "Very well. Let's hammer out some more ideas while waiting for the domain to finish upgrading. Oh, by the way, do you need to be back to the dock at any point to ferry adventurers across?"

My companion shook his boney head. "No, they rarely come around this time of day. Though I will keep my eye on it."

"Ah, it won't be a problem if you have to bail to take care of them. It would give me some time to mull over our ideas a bit more. Oh kharon, are you skilled in urban development at all? I want to run some town ideas by you. However, be warned I will use some city structures from my world."

A few hours later

"Wait, they have buildings that reach that high into the sky?" I swear I could faintly hear surprise crawl across my companion's usual monotonous voice.

"Yes, however, I want to stay away from buildings that size for now. That won't be for quite some time. What I have in mind at the moment is a small town, or city reminiscent of what I know." I leaned over my desk with an absurdly large piece of paper and my sharpie in hand.

"You don't want to make something the adventurers would recognize?""Not quite. Once I expand the domain and come across the town, it will set the tone for the rest of the domain. Up to this point, they have only seen military installations. What I want them to see next is what the civilian life looks like here."

He stood up straight and tapped his chin with his finger as he looked at my hastily drawn urban map. "It would be interesting. Tell me, though, does having multiple-lane roads really make sense though? I mean, if at most we have a buggy, it would be pointless to have anything over two lanes.

"Well, you see, Kharon, there is something I have in mind. I want to build up the environment in a way that doesn't pigeonhole me. I intend on at least trying to create a hybrid between magic here and tech that I know of from Earth. It would keep things interesting and would keep me busy while I lounge around my office for now." I capped my sharpie, placed it on my table, and glanced towards my companion. While I lacked the use of magic and fine knowledge of technology from Earth, that couldn't stop me from utilizing concepts and my vast array of rabbit hole knowledge.

"You astound me, Calixa. Instead of just doing the bare minimum, you keep trying to push everything further and further." He stood there for a moment, unmoving, as he stared at the urban design.

I chuckled and smoothed the front of my robe nervously. "Thanks. Don't think anything of it; I'm going to keep working at stuff until I know it's perfect."

He nodded his head at me and gave me what I hoped was an attempt at a smile. "You do more than enough, Calixa."

"No matter how much I do, I can always do more," I told him as I leaned forward and grabbed the sharpie and went back to work at fleshing out the city design, desperate to get away from the topic. Mostly since it made me slightly uncomfortable addressing why I'm the way I am. "Anyways, do you think the city hall would do well here?" I asked as I pointed to a spot roughly in the middle of the town.

"I think it is great. It makes sense, and it would be easily accessible." He mused quietly as he looked it over.

I made a mental note to keep it and moved on to the next part. I was going to be here for quite some time. I had no idea how to plan out a town, and I wanted this one to be perfect, so while I had the time, I might as well figure it out the best that I could.