CHAPTER 38: MERCHANT IS BACK

Of course, this also brought the street to life.

[Handicraftsmen Street].

It would be accurate to say that it was almost like a bazaar because Luke would cover the ceiling with stones supporting each other and illuminate the interior from the location of the market and café, i.e. from this location on the third street.

In other words, he would create a covered bazaar.

There would be more tailors, drapers, hatters, cap makers, shoemakers, and furriers in this area. There would also be blacksmiths, carpenters, potters, candlemakers, and coopers.

It wouldn’t stop there; there would also be jewellers, silk and velvet shops, bookshops, and apothecaries.

It would stretch from the third street entrance to the other side of the city, that is, to the southern part of the city. This would create a covered bazaar that would extend to the general settlements, a region filled with all kinds of things.

Luke expected that when this place became a small city, it would be home to nearly ten thousand, perhaps even twenty thousand people, and that the area from the walls to the centre would be able to comfortably accommodate that many people, even creating accommodation and entertainment and general living areas.

When it became a large city, its vast land would be utilised, and naturally... it would grow.

However, time eventually began to flow again, and by the end of winter, it had come to an end. By the time spring arrived and the fifth day of March had passed, a familiar face had been admitted into the city gates by many elves.

Unlike the previous time, this familiar face had arrived in much greater splendour, accompanied by dozens of horse-drawn carriages and hunters, all fully loaded from start to finish.

This person was none other than the merchant Elvis himself.

Luke had completed all the preparations just before the end of the winter months and had managed to build hundreds of shops and many other things that could accommodate nearly seven thousand people.

It had been quite exhausting. Luke, who already slept very little, could barely find even one or two hours of sleep.

Elvis’ arrival was greeted with great joy. Of course, he was now a well-known figure, so it was quite normal.

When Luke received the news, he ordered Elvis to clean up and rest properly before coming to see him.

When Elvis returned to the area, Zoey had managed to get out of the shower and make her way to Luke’s study.

Zoey had been busy killing magical beasts in the forest, mostly alone, for nearly half a month.

Since most of the elves were confined within the walls, it made more sense for either Callum or Zoey to go outside.

In addition, Callum was the only one who had trained the elves to use weapons and performed the necessary procedures to make their bodies stronger. This explained why Zoey went alone in the first place.

The young woman had fought in the forest for days without sleeping, and sometimes even without eating or drinking.

As a result, it became clear why so few magical beasts had come to the area. Zoey had killed two thousand three hundred magical beasts in just eleven days.

Each one was a magical creature that lived in the forest.

Zoey was really sleepy. The young woman had only taken a shower without resting and then decided to go to her beloved husband, Luke.

"I’m proud of you," Luke said as soon as he saw Zoey come in.

"I know," Zoey replied, then lay down on the large sofa at the edge of the study and closed her eyes. She had chosen to sleep beside the man who would be her husband instead of in a comfortable bed.

Two minutes later, Luke’s study door was knocked on, and a human female servant and an elf female servant entered.

The two women’s names were Aelia and Amber. Aelia was 232 years old, with light blonde hair and emerald green eyes, commonly seen among elves. Amber, on the other hand, was 27 years old, a mother of two, with classic black hair and eyes, commonly seen among humans.

Both were extremely reliable women, and Luke had appointed them directly as Zoey’s maids for precisely that reason.

Zoey was an incredibly graceful woman in public settings, but she had a slightly masculine side... Despite being extremely beautiful and exuding elegance from every pore, it was possible to notice this once you got to know her a little.

Of course... Zoey had grown up with Luke’s sisters. The young woman knew she was destined to be the future empress, and she wasn’t the only one who knew it; everyone in the empire did. Only the slightly old-fashioned fathers of the two families had not fully approved of the relationship.

Still, even though Alfred’s foolish mind and Kassadin’s slightly stingy mind had stopped them, they knew it wouldn’t last forever.

That’s why Zoey had been granted permission to fight for the title of empress, and this permission, granted at the age of eighteen, when she received her gift, allowed her to rise to the heavens in Alfred the Second’s eyes.

This had also led to Zoey and Luke becoming engaged.

Zoey had spent exactly thirteen years of her nineteen-year-old life in the capital. Naturally, the Wirgo Duchy, like the other duchies, had villas in the capital. Of course, this didn’t mean she lived directly in the palace, but it did make Zoey the younger sister of the princesses.

This had ensured the existence of a woman who had grown up alongside seven princesses, all of whom were more masculine than Alfred the Second and perhaps even Callum.

And this was what was making her even stronger and even more loyal to Luke...Since she learned to love Luke even more from his older sisters, who love him enough to literally die for him.

That woman was Zoey herself.

The woman who could make someone fall in love with her just by looking at her was such a person.

When Amber and Aelia knocked on the door and entered, they didn’t see Zoey at first, so they looked at Luke.

Luke nodded toward the corner of the study.

The place Luke was pointing to was the large sofa, where Zoey was sleeping.

Zoey was sleeping with one leg on the sofa, one arm hanging off the sofa, and her mouth open. Even with this strange sleeping position, the young woman was the most beautiful thing in Luke’s eyes.

"Try not to wake her," Luke said calmly. Still, things turned out differently.

Amber and Aelia had warmed up to Zoey quickly, which had made Zoey a little more graceful towards them.

The two women shook Zoey as if they were roughhousing with her. To be honest, Luke had to hold himself back from laughing.

When Zoey finally opened her eyes, they were filled with fear, and she quickly said, "I can explain!" But Aelia and Amber didn’t care and practically lifted her into the air, saying, "You promised!" and forced her out of the room.

Zoey’s last resort was to ask Luke for help, but Luke, to be honest, was too scared of Aelia and Amber to even look at her.

"LUUUUKE!!!" Zoey shouted, and her voice faded away as the door closed.

Three hours passed, and finally, Luke’s door was knocked on again. This time, it was Kevin and Elvis who entered.

Kevin sat down on a chair, just like Elvis, at Luke’s insistence, and Luke finally put down the pen in his hand and looked at Elvis.

Not only Elvis, but Kevin himself had suddenly started sweating profusely. Luke’s gaze seemed to be following Elvis’s soul.

Kevin had never seen this look before. He hadn’t seen Luke in a while because they slept at different times, and even the people who served him tea and breakfast were different.

Naturally, since Luke had seen something about ’fate,’ something seemed to have awakened within him.

"Tell me, Elvis, how successful were you?"

When Luke asked this question, Elvis felt his head spinning, but he managed to pull himself together and replied, "Quite successful, Your Majesty."

When Luke managed to regain his focus, he swallowed and began to explain:

"Within three months, I went back and forth between the Duchy of Wirgo and the Imperial Capital, and to be honest, the number of people who know the name of Selene Village is probably in the tens of thousands now."

"How did you manage that?" Luke asked.

"I sold the magical monster corpses you gave me. I sold each one and used the money to hire people. They roamed around and managed to spread the word among the people. I managed to spread the word that Prince Luke Ibn Alphonsine Hiera, whom everyone was curious about, had established a massive settlement in the far north of the empire." Elvis replied.

When Luke heard these words, he nodded his head up and down and then said, "Keep going, don’t skip any details."

"If I must explain, I told him that elves and humans lived together there, just as they did throughout the empire, and that it would be good for other races to come too, but that wasn’t even the serious part..." Elvis said and smiled.

This report would have a longer explanation.