Chương 153: Chapter 152: Gates Open

"Open the gates," said Margaux from the door, and a moment later, the gates of the establishment opened. She is looking beautiful with a shimmering red gown hugging her body perfectly. As she moved, it looked like she was wearing the water as the dress moved with her. Elese had designed it specifically for Margaux, and it shows the way it hugged every part of her. It didn't even take ten seconds before the first carriage came through the gate. Margaux smiled and turned to the girls.

The experienced girls are keeping their expressions composed, while the new girls had different expressions on their faces. From nervousness to excitement, which is natural. Many girls sitting here had the same expression on their faces on their first day. … I watched the first carriage rolled into the establishment and it had come from the Red Fragrance. It stopped and two middle-aged men came out of it; they had just taken a step out when two more carriages came inside, one after another.

A minute passed, and thirteen carriages came into the establishment and that just starting. Seeing the traffic, a smile couldn't help but appear on my face. Some of the worries I have been relieved of, but not all. They will only be relieved after the night passed. There are new girls, which will bring nearly double the number of patrons. I have made changes to accommodate such a number and even made girls and staff practice with actors, creating various scenarios.

The practice is great, and now it is time for them to deal with people. It is a real challenge, not only for the girls but also for Margaux and the staff. It won't be easy, but I have confidence in them. Hun! I was watching through the window, when suddenly. I felt my skill getting suppressed. Nearly 40% of Torch of Seeker's power had disappeared.

"Norman, oh Norman; suppressing my skill, won't change things much," I said, looking at the Red Fragrance with a smile. It is not the first time he had done that, and like before, he won't be able to affect my business. Unlike before, he couldn't suppress all the power of my skill. Now, in a matter of months, I have leveled up enough that he could only suppress less than half of my skills' power.

My main class, Agent Of Experience, had reached Level 15, and it is not a common class either, which makes it even more powerful. Every level I gain will lessen the effects of his skill and I am sure, one day, he won't be able to suppress my skill anymore and that day would come sooner than he realizes. I don't know what the problem of Norman is; there is enough business in the city for us. Even if his patrons came running to my establishment. There are still enough patrons for him to do the business.

From what I had found out, his business is always 80%-90% filled, even when I took many of his patrons. Now, with the capacity of my establishment, nearly doubling; some things might change. Though, I don't think they will change enough to affect his business. As I had said, there is enough business for both of us, due to the large number of merchants and other rich people coming to the city. Their numbers are increasing every day, like the economy of the city.

The trade with the merchant state of Meldhorn is increasing; it is not just the cities of Renwell that are buying up their goods, but also the empire and its appetite is increasing rapidly. So much so that by the end of this month, the empire will trade more goods than the renwell region and it will keep increasing. Renwell region is big, but the empire is bigger with a lot of population, and they want to trade with merchant cities.

It is why, I had said Count Darrow, not to worry about trade with other merchant states. The appetite of the empire is growing, and the merchant states wouldn't be able to resist it for long. The secret trade had already started from Oksall and Belnin and not only them, but goods also started coming from as far as Valboldar and Nova Alyra. More and more carriages are entering through the gates, and valets are parking them efficiently.

More space had been further opened and I have also made the parking by the street, in case the space I have is filled. The space is not unlimited, but currently, I could manage. Through the next expansion, I would need to dig a little deeper for more parking as even the street wouldn't be enough, and I don't want to use the garden for parking. The garden is part of the experience, and I will not destroy it for the parking.

I stayed by the window for a couple of minutes before sitting back on the chair and looking at the diary in front of me; the one that had the latest intelligence. The girls still provide it and every day, I burn it down after recording it in my diary. This intelligence is the reason why I targeted Norke and a specific group of merchants there. It worked. In these seven months, the girls have collected a lot of intelligence and I am being very careful about it.

The most important steps I had taken are limiting the number of girls who collect the information. Only the most trusted girls were allowed to report. It is limiting, but a cautious approach. If it is known, then my entire reputation will go down the drain, not to mention the consequences I would suffer. I read the few pages before putting it back into the vault. It seemed like I would need to start shifting to the files.

The diaries are not efficient, but using files will make them conspicuous for any thief coming to steal them. The vault is good, but any rogue with good enough levels will be able to open them. Unfortunately, it is the best option I have. Though I am trying to reinforce the protection around my office with ritual enchantments. Hope, that will be enough to keep them away from the hands of any rogue coming here. Time passed as I kept working. Now and then, I would look out of the window.

I once again looked out of the window and looked out, but this time, saw a completely different thing. Instead of the carriage coming, I saw the gates closing. Immediately, I turned to the clock, and what I saw brightened my eyes.

"Fifty-six minutes," I noted. The gate had closed in less time before, but this time, the numbers of patrons were nearly double. I had asked Margaux to only close the door when the patrons reached a certain number. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

'Since the gates have closed, it is time to look,' I thought and walked out of my office. Click! Soon, I reached the ground floor and opened the door of the small observation room, and immediately, a full view of the hall appeared in front of me. One of the changes I made in the hall involves the painting covering the view. I had now brought the bigger painting, which was slightly over five feet tall.

It gives me a full view of the hall and even added extra protection to it through the second batch of ritual enchantments. It is the first ritual enchantment on the list of the second batch. She had imprinted the enchantment in the morning when Architect Lloyd finished with the changes. I have to be careful with these types of things. What I am doing is not illegal, but people don't like it when you look at them in such a sneaky way. It will damage the trust.

"How are things?" I asked Carla as I looked at the hall. There is not a single chair that is empty, be it on the table or the bar. Despite being packed, it is not crowded. It looked lively, and people could see enjoying themselves, seeing how they were laughing and talking.

"Good; I didn't see any problem," she replied before her expressions become serious.

"It is a good thing. We have listened to Rain and kept the fusion menu reserved for select tables," she added. Wilman Rain is a new sommelier that we had hired; he is the one who Drev referred and is good. I was a little hesitant to hire him, hearing the salary he demanded, but he proved himself. He is also quite knowledgeable in management, and we have adopted some of the ideas he suggested. Like reserving the fusion dishes for the select tables.

"They are ordering it?" I asked.

"Eleven of those twelve tables had ordered it," she said, and it kind of surprised me. Fusion dishes are made from a mix of magical and normal ingredients. Though having magical ingredients didn't automatically make them tasty, it makes them dangerous. If not cooked according to the recipe, it could kill people. It is quite common for people to die, eating food made of magical materials.

The main reason I had allowed a few fusion dishes on the menu is not because they are extremely tasty and will get huge margins selling them, but because it would create a novelty. It is a good advisement, and it attracts a certain kind of people. So, I am quite surprised when eleven of the twelve tables had ordered it.

"Hope it will not put too much pressure on the Eudo," I said. One needs to be careful in cooking them. If many people order it, it will put pressure on Drev and he might make a mistake, which would be quite bad. I don't want anyone to suffer or die eating the food in my establishment.

"He said he can manage," she replied. I nodded and turned back to the hall, noting down things that I noticed and felt improvement.

"Caena is quite good. I have never seen any girl entertain so many people without making anyone feel neglected," she said, and a smile appeared on my face. Carla had been quite curious about my meetings with Caena. She never asked for it directly after the first day, but she remains curious and had been trying to gain the information indirectly. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell her anything about my business with Caena. I looked at Caena, who was sitting at the biggest table, with five people.

She was able to maintain a conversation with all of them equally; I have never seen a single person leave her table in disappointment. Some people are great at holding conversations. They could engage with people for hours, without making them feel bored. I stayed in the room for more than an hour, watching everything, and the more I look, the happier I would become. Everything is going well. While some hiccups did occur, Margaux handled them smoothly.

Feeling I had looked enough; I got up and walked out of the room and the first place I went to was the studio. Which has now become bigger. When I entered, I saw four girls in the midst of change and makeup; three didn't react, while one become a little nervous. She is new. I smiled at the nervous girl reassuringly and sat down. The chair is bigger and more comfortable and is at a place from where I could look at the whole studio.

It feels quite empty, with only four girls and a staff of nine, plus five trainees slash helpers. It is not surprising, only two hours have passed. The real rush happens at late night to midnight when these people wouldn't get even a minute of rest. I watch as Eudo directs the staff; he is sitting in a chair, advising, while others do the job. He is a good teacher, be the staff working here or the girls, all sing high praises of him. Everything is done by staff and if they do well, he doesn't even touch the girls.

Of the four girls here, Nero only raised his hand or, rather, telekinetic, on only one and that is only for a slight touch-up. I had asked him to do that; I need him to train the staff enough that they could work without him. It is for contingency in case he left and also because he is very good at teaching, and seemed to love it. I stayed in the studio for half an hour before walking out of it and going to the kitchen. There the stoves are burning, and knives are cutting whatever is beneath them.

I could see Wanda, washing the dishes with two young girls, who had chosen culinary as their trade. She is doing well. In a few months, she will be among the chefs, working on these counters. Everyone is busy, including Drev, who had a separate counter from all, and Zela is keeping an eye on him. Ready to deal with any fire that threatened to burn the kitchen. When I turned to her, her cheeks reddened. As she was eating the rose balls of sugary delicacy. I smiled before walking out of the kitchen.

Soon, I went back to the secret room and sat beside Carla. Hun! Barely a minute had passed since I came back when something happened in the hall. Immediately, I got up.

"Stay, Margaux will handle it," said Carla as she stopped me. I hesitated for a moment, before sitting back and turning to Margaux, who is walking toward the disturbance.