Building a World Class Empire in another World
Chapter 75: A second chance

Chapter 75: A second chance

"The bathhouse you talked about was a luxury, but it was something you had thought about when the population was small. But as it stands now, you would need a very massive bathhouse to accommodate everyone, even if we decided to take turns of twenty or so.

I’ve run through the idea in my head and it doesn’t work, so I’d like to suggest a change," Ariel said.

"A change? What could that be?" he asked.

"Well, only the main house has indoor toilets and bathrooms, so I want to suggest a change to the communal houses.

If it’s possible, extensions should be built as well to serve as places where goblins can clean up. It will be a temporary solution for the time being," she said.

"I see, that honestly makes a lot of sense. The bathhouse takes a lot of material and some intricate technology that would require a certain amount of expertise to carry out," Aric said.

"Which means you would have to be on-site, and we can’t allow that to happen, not at all," she said.

"I understand your want to remove me from the normal hard work, but I can still help," Aric said.

"No one is removing you from the hard work. Your work is already hard enough. You have tons and tons of things lined up to do, and if you don’t do them, this system will crumble," Ariel said.

"Uhm, Ariel, before we go on with this, how do you know so much about this?" Aric asked.

"I was taught. My father taught me a lot of things, and I also observed, but that’s not important. We have current issues to deal with," Ariel said.

"What’s next on your mind?" he asked.

"Defense. We need to talk about it more, in depth," Ariel said.

"No, not you and I. Let’s get the whole table seated tomorrow to have some of these discussions," Aric said. He immediately summoned a hundred gold to get a stack of paper, and quill and ink.

It appeared on the table in front of him. He pushed the stack of paper over to her. "You can use this to write down everything we will have to do, and then when I sit at the table tomorrow, we will get to it. Every issue you deem worthy of discussing, write it down," Aric said.

"I see, thank you. I’ll get to that right away," she said and picked up the quill and a piece of paper. Aric got up and walked to the food, leaving Ariel to work.

’Ariel is making a lot of sense. I don’t have much of an idea when it comes to this whole thing, but I’m sure with her help I’ll be able to pull through easily.’

________________

Gorin sat at the entrance of the cave, his brother covered in wounds of all sorts. His eyes blazed with rage as he sat there.

He held a small rock in his hands and crushed it like it was nothing, allowing the powder to fall from his hand.

After a while, the bird flew out of the cave and landed beside Gorin.

"He wants to see you, alone," the bird said and flew off. Gorin let out a groan and then pushed himself up to stand.

He walked through the entrance of the cave. His presence caused all the goblins to go quiet; they feared that he would lash out if they made a sound.

But that was not on Gorin’s mind. He had greater issues to deal with. If the master asked to see him alone, it wasn’t a good sign, and Gorin knew this.

But he steeled his nerves and walked deeper into the cave, until he made it to the deepest parts of the cave. He walked in and saw the terror seated at the very end, eyes already locked on Gorin.

Gorin walked forward and bowed his head to the terror. "Greetings, master," he said.

"Gorin, you disappointed me," the terror spoke. He completely ignored the greeting and skipped to the point.

"My lord, it wasn’t my fault. It was as if they knew we were coming and they prepared for us," Gorin tried to defend himself.

"Are you trying to push away the blame?" the terror asked in a murderous tone.

"No, my lord, please forgive me. I could have done better. It is all my fault," Gorin said, yet struggled to say those words.

"All I asked of you was to bring an elf to me, and the spirits with him, but you went ahead to lose two hundred men and two of my shamans.

Their death at the end was all for nothing. You have nothing to show for their deaths.

You are supposed to be one of my best, yet you disappointed me heavily," the terror spoke.

"Please, my lord, forgive me. Send me again. Give me a second chance, a second choice to claim the head of that elf, and I will do it," Gorin said.

The terror fell silent for a while and then finally spoke. "I will give you a second chance, but not without precaution. Remember that inside you is a very special crystal.

One snap of my finger and you will be blasted from the inside. I will not tolerate a second failure. Do you understand me, Gorin?" the terror asked.

"Yes, I do. Thank you very much. Thank you," Gorin said.

"One more thing, Gorin. You will not be using my army for this fight. You must claim the life of the elf by yourself.

Do you understand me?"

Gorin was shocked when the terror said he wouldn’t take the army with him. How then was he supposed to survive?

"My lord, I know I caused you great losses, but please," Gorin begged.

"No army. You will go alone or never come back. I will not tolerate weakness, and you will not exhibit any weakness, or I will have you for my meal."

Gorin nodded in response, not saying another word. He rose to his feet and walked out of the deepest part of the cave.