Proofread by Thomas F
The carriage rolled through the bridge while I watched through the window.
I could see people working on the bridge and making good progress already. It had been over a month and a half since, and they had already made significant progress.
Many had called constructing a second bridge hasty, to use the funds somewhere, but it had been a wise decision. Seeing the progress the outer city is making.
Soon, the carriage rolled out of the bridge, and I saw a scene before me.
We began selling the plots a little over a month and a half ago. Counting the latest one, we have sold the four tranches, containing thousands of plots.
Now, people are building and doing it faster than we had thought.
There are hundreds of buildings, small and big, being built. If I were to state official numbers, it would be eight hundred and seventy-three.
We have given this number of permissions; by next week, it will comfortably exceed one thousand.
The zoning and housing department is the most well-staffed department. As soon as they receive an application, they begin the process of approval within minutes.
Our target is to permit small houses within three days and significant buildings within a week or even less.
The momentum is building, and I don't want to lose it.
This rapid development is greatly benefiting the city. It is providing us with the funds from the plot sale, creating more employment, and thus bringing more people.
The population of the city had already crossed six hundred thousand and was growing rapidly.
That is a problem for us, because the city did not have the capacity to house that many people. It is built for three hundred thousand, and we could stretch to half a million, but six hundred is stretching a lot.
It was a good thing, I had focused on basic infrastructure like hospitals, roads, and other things, but even they are creaking under the weight of the population.
It wasn't long ago when half the houses of the city were empty. Now, there are not enough houses.
We have to keep our workers in tents. Those tents on my right are where the workers are living. We are keeping things as efficient and clean as possible, but nothing could compare to real houses.
It is affecting the city; the rent is increasing rapidly, and services are getting expensive.
It is also slowing down the coming people. These workers usually bring their families when they find the city good enough with fair wages, but here they have not.
It is why I needed to create more housing as soon as possible.
While it happens, I am doing everything I can to handle it as much as possible. Sending people to Panar and Gailhorn, as well as investing everything I am getting from plot sales back here.
I am releasing plots fast, with building and infrastructure coming off the ground rapidly.
It is happening every day, the roads are getting bigger, and so is the underground sewerage network. I am erecting more light poles and taking all necessary steps to make the outer city as appealing as possible.
I looked at the buildings; the army is building the biggest one, but the second biggest is from the Church of Dusk.
They had made a special request to buy the bigger plot, and after studying their plans, I approved it. Now they have the biggest private plot in the outer city.
In the whole city, actually, if I exclude the grounds of legacy.
Greltheaven is now officially the second most important city of the church of Dusk.
In the outer wall, they are building their commandery. It is where the church guards and paladins will be trained.
They already have my permission and will move their people here as soon as they finish building it.
I am cautious about such things; I don't want other forces in the city that I could not control. There are mercenaries, but I could control them.
The churches are a different thing.
They are places of faith, and dealing with them can be very difficult. If they become too strong, but the church of dusk has helped me many times.
They stood shoulder to shoulder with the city against every undead attack. Beside me, I want such a force.
The paladins and clerics are too helpful not to make use of them. I would even say, if it were not for their help, the city wouldn't have been standing here.
There are many other buildings—especially small hotels, inns, and taverns. A lot of them are being built, which is much higher than we had expected.
We had already expected a good number of them due to the tourists, but we didn't expect it to be so many.
We need the hotels because many tourists stay at least one night in the city, but a significant number leave because there aren't enough rooms.
We had till a few months ago until the influx of people.
We have already informed the businesses that the legacy will close in a few months and will remain closed for some time, as we reconstruct it.
Perhaps they are counting on other drivers to drive their business growth. There are other drivers, but nothing compares to the legacy.
Soon, the carriage stopped at the edge of the city, and I got out.
"Lord Silver," greeted Amellus. I nodded and looked at the work behind him. "It seemed to be going well," I said, looking at the wall.
"It is," he replied with a smile. "We have put the first layer of enchantments. By the end of next month, we will have finished with the second layer of it," he explained.
The wall is unlike typical buildings. If it is, it would collapse under the weight of a few cannons.
It needed stronger materials and enchantments. They are the most expensive part of the wall. It isn't just during the building period, but also in maintenance.
I want the wall to be strong. Stronger than the wall of the inner city.
The enemies will be stronger. I need it strong enough to hold them, and it will. The construction of it will be slow, since we don't have the funds to make it fast, but that is fine.
It will also provide a sense of security, even during slow construction.
This is one of the reasons the last tranche of plots sold so quickly.
"Good, keep up the work," I replied.
I talked to him for fifteen minutes, then checked out other things before heading back to the inner city.
It is bustling, with people everywhere.
After the battle, the streets are mostly crowded with tourists as many residents had left the city, but now they are also filled with an equal number of residents.
It is due to the rapid increase in the population. I had postponed the plan of land acquisition.
I plan to acquire a massive swath of land around the legacy. It will be around 15%, which would be massive and would cost a lot.
Now that I have finalized the design, I plan to serve the notices next month.
I am still going to serve the notices next month, but the eviction won't start a month after that. It will be at a minimum of three months or four months, if needed.
I can't make a move until I have enough houses ready, or it will exacerbate the problem of housing and cost of living even further.
It is not a problem that a growing city should have.
I didn't expect I would have this problem in the first week after the battle or even a month after the battle.
The defeat of the undead had brought an unexpected confidence to the city, alongside the legacy.
Still, even if I knew, I don't know what I would have done differently. Considering the city didn't have much money.
It is a problem, but we are sprinting to fix that. I know how important it is, and Valentina is focusing her efforts most on it.
Soon, I reached the city hall and stepped inside.
We have recruited a good number; there are still departments that need people, but now we have enough numbers to do the job well.
Still, the recruitment is open for us, as well as the Panar and Gailhorn.
I reached my office and stepped inside.
"Sister Margaux had sent this," said Lola, and placed a file in front of me. I opened it and began to read; it is a proposal for the plants.
It had been three weeks since I had returned from it and handed the responsibility of negotiations to Margaux and Bell.
Of course, Bell's participation remained secret. Not even Rip.
I would have handed the responsibility to Carla, but she is busy with a very important thing. She needs to focus solely on that.
"It is good," I said a few minutes later after I finished reading. It is still a rough draft; it needs a little polishing before it is ready.
Bell had helped tremendously. Without her knowledge, it would have been impossible to finish the research so quickly.
Next week, Margaux will leave with Rip and others for Nova Alyra to negotiate based on the principles that I had agreed on with her.
It won't be an easy job; we might have to agree on important points, but there are hundreds of small nitty-gritty things that need to be negotiated.
They will be there until they finish the negotiations.
"Should I say, you okayed it?" asked Lola. "Yes, but tell them I will meet them tonight to discuss," I replied.
It is nearly perfect, but there are a few issues. I could have written them down, but discussing them personally would be the best course of action.
They are not issues to write down, but keep in mind during the negotiations.