Rise of the Legendary Emperor

Chapter 147: Business Ideas

"Where's Elrond and Arwen?"

The little elf and Arwen was nowhere to be found in the training hall

"Hunting in the woods, good for their archery to hit moving targets than these dummies"

Don agreed with Knight

"Anyone had a breakthrough?"

"Not everyone is Arrora and Arwen, Don" 

Most of the men in the army had already reached the master level and few of them were at the peak level for some time and according to Knight's guess, they would become great masters shortly.

"But I'm going to hit the Star level soon, Don" 

Knight said as he ruffled his mane to look majestic

"There's nothing to be proud of Knight, I'm tired of waiting for you"

As he made fun of Don, he jumped down from the stage and started to walk towards the door

"Wait till I kick your arrogant butt when I reach the Star level"

"In your dreams"

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Because of Amaryll, Nikalas ended up eating more than he'd thought possible. He'd started on the creamy green pea soup that felt warm in his belly, which he'd needed on a night as cold as this. When the bowl had been in front of him, white wisps had etched themselves on the cold air, stretching out to caress his nostrils. It had been mossy green, with islands of orange floating through the broth. An impressive fish that caught in the river dish had followed. The servants had laid a silver platter in front of him on top of which sat a fleshy pink strip of trout, garnished with lashings of green herbs that Nikalas didn't know, but liked the taste of. The fish course was supplemented by a side plate of mussels. Their black shells lay open, the beige insides spilling out - sickening yet enticing. Nikalas had never eaten them before, they felt horrible on his tongue, slippery and nasty, but they tasted pleasantly of the ocean without an overwhelming aroma of fish and he was surprised that where did they get these mussels without any oceans. After the fish food dishes had been cleared away, the goblins and the servants had returned from the kitchen with the main meal; full spit-roasted pigs and deers, their skin a sizzling, mouth-watering golden brown, jaws prised around a forest green apple.

The servants had harmonized their heavy breathing with the screeching wheels of the cart as they'd pushed the first pig to be sat in front of Don and Knight. Cuts of the pork had been served with a refreshing apple sauce, easing the perfectly cooked meat down. It had been accompanied by potatoes that were diced up in a bowl with various vegetables and zucchini topped off with a healthy dash of pepper that stung the throat in the most pleasurable way. 

Then after bringing the main courses, they brought the desserts and placed them on the separate table. The pastry had been light, both in texture and color, with a thick dark brown crust, all of which contrasted with the beautiful cherry red sauce that poured out of it. 

"I've been thinking about revenues and I need some ideas from all of you"

The dwarves started to think with a mouth full of food that they couldn't easily chew while Nikalas looked at all the cleanly licked bowls

"Food, your majesty, you can open a restaurant"

It did sound like a good idea as Don thought about it for a moment

"And we need to do it big Don, if we really want to turn this as an income, we should do it like the royal dine," Knight said

"But people in Emir and Agoria can't afford the royal dine prices Knight, and if we make it affordable to the common people, it won't bring much wealth"

"Then we should open it in the other kingdoms, your majesty, we can use the gathering to strike up some deals " everyone nodded when they heard Joel since he had more experience with the outside world than them

"Are you forgetting something Don?, I have my hands full with managing the treasury, training with Knight and cooking three meals a day, where do I find time to run a restaurant?"

"You don't need to Amaryll, you just train a few people and visit the restaurant after opening here and then" Uncle Dior said as Don could see that he was really excited about this because the half-elf realized that a restaurant like royal dine could bring an immense amount of wealth to the treasury which he manages with Amaryll.

Amaryll played with the spoons and thought about it for a moment

"Alright, I can do that but I need a break from the training"

"Deal"

Amaryll never thought that Knight would agree to give her a break this quick but seeing the evil grin on his face, she had a bad feeling

"Speaking of restaurants, we should open a separate shop for selling Arrora's tea" Knight started to drink more tea than the water since he first tasted the drink and when he realized that it not only tastes great but also helps the cultivation, he was hooked

"That shops, we can open everywhere and everyone can afford it"

"What else people?"

"Well if ye ask me, we can sell armors an' weapons, tha humans hate us but fall head over heels for anything that made by dwarves"

Stodemar said and finished the wine in a single gulp

"No we shouldn't do that, the armor and weapons must be used only by our men and if we sell that to others, it'll be like strengthening our potential enemies"

Arwen nodded as Amaryll stuck her tongue out to make fun of Stodemar as he quickly shook his head

"Of course we can't sell the armors made for our men, General Knight but we can whip up some crap armors for humans, dwarven crap will still be better than those high-quality armors the humans make"

"How soon can you forge a sample armor and a weapon?"

"Thibrig can forge it 'afore tha sunset tomorrow, my king"

Thibrig was the dwarf running the smithy in Everlight with his fellow dwarves and some demihumans and who crafted all the armors for Everlight troops under Dhursir and Ken's supervision

"Good, you can give Don the armor when you're done, we don't know when will the opportunity present itself at the gathering"

"Just see, me king, this will be more successful than some food shops"

Stodemar mimicked Amaryll's previous action and ridiculed her as Amaryll rolled her eyes 

"We'll see, shorty"

Everyone started to laugh as the dinner passed with chatting and drinking more ale

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Don entered the throne hall after a night full of meditation to strengthen his cultivation base, where Stodemar and Dhursir had been waiting for him for quite some time.

"Your majesty, I hope this be ta your liking"

Dhursir stepped forward and presented him the customized bow of Arjuna

Dhursir looked up at Don, waiting for him to pick up the bow as Don took the bow in his hand

The bow was painted in metallic black replacing its previous golden color and there were some runes engraved on its surface to make it look nothing like the bow of Arjuna.

"Here be tha arrows, me king"

Don grabbed one arrow from Dhursir's hand as he nocked the arrow on the string and aimed at the empty wall

"Let's see"

The moment Don released the arrow, it slashed through the wind and almost a quarter of the arrow pierced into the wall as Don quickly took another arrow and fired aiming at the same place

When he released the arrow, just like the first one, it plunged into the wall just an inch away from the first one. Don didn't finish as he fired another arrow that hit the wall an inch away from the previous two arrows.

Stodemar and Dhursir stood looking at the arrow cluster with wide-opened eyes and mouths

"Me king!, I thought ye be a swordsman"

Don lowered the bow 

"I am"

As he said, Don went to put the arrow on his back to realize that his current armor had no bow holsters

"Your majesty, try this one"

Don saw Stodemar retrieving something from his space ring 

"I wanted this ta be a surprise, me king, I hope ye like it"

It was a black armor set that consists of robes, pants, and boots that's inspired by Don's regular black armor, the new armor had silver linings on the edges and barely noticeable runes engraved on it. The armor had detachable cape and hood and had two sheaths for Don's sword and Warhammer as well a bow holster. The beauty of the armor was when the bow would fit right into the armor so when in the holster the bow would become barely detectable.

"Me king, I made the armor using the strongest and flexible metal I could get my hands on, besides guardian Reghys was kind enough to give some of her scales to reinforce the armor "

The Dragon scales were one of the strongest substances in the world known to man and the fact that the armor had dragon scales alone would make it extremely special and valuable.

"An' there's more, me king"