Rise of the Legendary Emperor

Chapter 151: You have to pay for it

"Yes, I guessed that much, King Edward."

The smile until now he had on his face disappeared as he sighed.

"That's one of the reasons I invited you here, King Don. You see, we don't get as much rainfall as Agoria, we didn't always have a dry season like this, at least we'd have a steady downpour for a month or two in a year."

"Aren't there any rivers or water sources nearby?"

"Unfortunately, they all are dried out, King Don, even the Musfil river."

Don had no idea about the Musfil river as Lord Clemo said

"Your majesty, Musfil river is the main water source for Sigalla, it runs from Sigalla to Kingdom Trucia."

"Trucia has many other water sources and, they get occasion rains, so they aren't in a position as we"

Queen Sigalla sighed

It was clear that King Edward was desperate and had to get water from somewhere before the drought got worse. Looking at the way King Edward treats him, Don knew that King Edward was planning to ask his help regarding their current unfortunate situation.

"And I suppose you need my help with your drought?"

"Yes"

King Edward and Queen Sienna said at the same time,

"Tell me, what do you need? King Edward"

"King Don, if you redirect the excess water that's going to the ocean to Sigalla, it would be a big help," King Edward said

"We asked this to King Garreth and even tried to meet him but we always got some excuses from him."

Queen Sigalla stated with slight anger in her tone.

However, Don was not King Garreth, and he saw an opportunity to make wealth for his kingdom.

"Before I tell my answer, King Edward, how do you plan to get the rainwater from Agoria to here "

"Using a dam, King Don, of course, if you say yes, Sigalla will cover the cost of building it."

Until now, Agoria was fortunate enough to avoid a flood considering the amount of rainfall they got, but Don knew their luck would eventually run out. The whole kingdom had to face the flood, but a dam could not only store water and save them from the flood but also let it flow towards Sigalla. However, if Don really wanted his plan on the motion, first, he had to wait for his men to finish building a proper drainage system and redirect rainwater to the river in Agoria, the Serpent Brook, and then redirect the excess water to Sigalla through the dam.

If Don had known that they're going to ask something like this, he would have brought Stodemar with him who knows more about building stuff than him. Nevertheless, Don understood that the dwarves could complete this project if he ordered them.

"So what do you say, king Don?"

"I have some conditions about this, King Edward."

King Edward expected this much as no one would agree to let another kingdom build something in their territory.

"Please, tell us, King Don."

"I can cover the material cost to build the dam without taking a coin from you and put my people to work, believe me, they are the best in this, and you have to pay their wages."

Agreeing to let them cover the entire cost would make the dam partially theirs and be always named as the dam that Sigalla built, but, with Don's plan, the dam would belong to Agoria and, at the same time, Agorians would get a job with a good wage.

Hearing Don, King Edward, and Queen Sienna looked at each other for a moment and nodded as Don continued.

"After the dam is built, I can give you water for an amount of time till you get your kingdom back to its feet and after that, you'll have to pay a little sum to Agoria, this way you'll get water and, I'll get an income to my kingdom, what do you think, King Edward, Queen Sienna?"

Princess Amber frowned when she heard Don, already Don noticed the change in Amber's face but, he acted as he didn't see that.

"Take your time, and I'll do something else in the meantime."

"Yes, we will think about this and have a talk with our advisors and let Princess Amber give you a tour of the castle and capital King Don, the dinner will be ready when you return."

"Lead the way, Princess."

Don gave the empty glass to a maid and stood up to follow the princess.

"Lord Clemo, you can stay here."

"Yes, your majesty"

Don knew that King Edward and Queen Sienna would like to hear more about him through Lord Clemo while the princess and Don were walking around the castle and the city.

"Follow me, King Don."

Princess Amber gestured at Don to follow her as they both left the living room while Arwen and Arrora finished their drink and followed Don behind.

"So King Don, I heard you bested Darlene in a fight and almost killed her"

After leaving the living room, Princess Amber asked.

"You heard right"

"But is that true, she and you were in love before the fight?"

Don pegged her as the curious one, and did not see any harm in answering a few questions since her parents might bring him a steady flow of income to Agoria.

"No, it was just a ruse to fool her parents and avoid getting married to King Garreth's son."

"Prince Jowan, right? I've met him a couple of times in some tournaments."

"Never thought that Jowan had competed in tournaments"

Princess Amber giggled when she heard Don

"He came to watch Princess Darlene not participate, King Don"

While talking, they reached the garden that surprisingly had many beautiful flowers and exotic plants as well as many birds.

It could be described as a formal garden. The bonsai trees lined the perfect lawn in their wooden boxes. In the center, there was a pond with flowering lily pads and a wooden bridge that crossed the middle, and one could look down at the koi carp and golden fishes in the pond. The flower beds had roses, lilies, jasmines, and many other flowers that Don had never even seen before.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

This was the first time Don see lively plants after coming to Sigalla 

"My mother loves this garden and each and everything you see is planted by her"

The garden was no less in any aspect, compared to the many gardens created by the elven women in Everlight, but the question in Don's mind was, how did they get the water to keep the garden alive?

"I know what you're thinking, King Don, my mother also know some water spells that enough to keep the garden from dying"

Seeing the beautiful flowers, Arrora's feminine instincts kicked in and she wanted to pick some flowers but under Arwen's gaze, she couldn't touch the flowers as Princess Amber noticed the two behind Don

"They follow you everywhere, King Don?"

"Adria, yes"

"Why?"

Princess Amber tilted her head and asked as Don didn't seem like a man who keeps a woman around him for the sake of pleasure to Princess Amber since he didn't even deliver a single pick up unlike the noble youths she had met 

"Its because she is my personal guard, and he's the captain of the archer squad, if you want to know"

Princess Amber looked Arrora with a surprised face 

"If you're a great master, what level is she to protect even a great master?"

"That I can't answer, Princess Amber"

Princess Amber quickly shook her head

"Forgive me, King Don, I shouldn't have asked her cultivation level"

"Its fine, Princess Amber, let's continue the tour"

After leaving the garden, Princess Amber led them to a hall that filled with drawings and paintings

"Do you like paintings, King Don?"

She was pointing at a painting of which seemed like a woman as she asked

The painting looked like ash from some smoky fire had been mixed in. The paint itself looked like it was too thick on the paper, giving the surface a rough look, but no matter how close Don look, he could find any shapes or anything that he recognizes in the painting

"I was trying to convey the emotions of a woman in love in this painting, King Don, can you see it?"

Arrora and Arwen had a good chuckle seeing Don's confused face 

"No offense Princess, but the only thing I see is, some blue strokes and gray circles"

In the divine continent, crazy rich people would buy these kinds of paintings for outrageous prices and call themselves art lovers. One time Don and Knight even saw a blank white paper with some red chicken scratchings get sold for one million battle energy stones in an auction and because of the craze for paintings in the divine continent, forgery and counterfeiting were considered as one of the successful ways to get rich quickly. Of course, Don and Knight would love to forge paintings and make a ton of money by auctioning it but neither of them had a shred of talent in drawing.

Because of that, they preferred to stick with stealing and killing than trying to forge a painting.