The Lord stood up and approached him. His tall height towered over Aldred.
Lizard's eyes looked at Aldred up and down. "Are you here for war, human?"
"No."
"Are you here for our women? Our skin? Scales? Feet? Claws? Tongue? What do you want?"
Aldred was weirded out. Who the hell wanted the tongue of a lizardman?
Unbeknownst to Aldred, however, a lot of dark ritualists need lizardman's tongues for their ritual.
"No," Aldred replied. "I want to invest in your county."
"Invest? What do you mean by that?"
"Well, I heard you import most of the materials like wood, iron, and other materials."
"So what of it?"
"Well, do you know that you can obtain all of those materials in your own territory?"
"Of course, I know. Do you think of me as a fool, human? I am way smarter than you."
"Uhh… right. If you already know then why are you still importing?"
The lizardman seemed unable to answer. "I do what I like, you fool. If I want to import then so be it. This is my territory."
Aldred frowned. "How old are you?"
"I am 14. What are you gonna do?"
Aldred and his wives were shocked.
"You're 14?" Aldred's eyes widened, finally realizing why the Lord acted like a snobby child.
"Yeah, you got a problem?" The lizardfolk looked at Aldred's eyes like he wanted to fight the man.
"What is your name?"
"Shagatik."
Aldred looked at the butler who had no expression on his face.
"Let's talk in private for a minute," Aldred said as he walked away for some distance.
"What? I am not afraid of you."
"You shouldn't be," Aldred said. "I am here to make you rich. More powerful, more influential. How many guards do you have?"
"Around 5,000."
"That's not enough. How can a lord like you only have 5,000 guards? And how many castles do you have?"
"I have one."
"Only one?" Aldred shook his head as if showing disappointment. "How can a lord like you only have one castle? You should have twenty, or at least a few hundred."
"What nonsense are you talking about?" the lizardman frowned.
Aldred smiled. "I can make you rich and powerful, Lord Shagatik."
Shagatik still frowned, but his eyes secretly lit up. In all of his life, only his subordinates considered him a lord. Others who had a high status looked down upon him, even merchants looked down on him when they were rich enough.
But this man had brought a mothership here, this meant his status was very high. And he considered Shagatik as a lord. Because of that, he began to see Aldred in a different light.
"Imagine, hundreds of thousands of guards at your beck and call. Hundreds of grand castles with thousands of beautiful maids. Everyone will respect you no matter if they are a wealthy merchant or a count."
Shagatik's eyes lit up. Because he took the throne at an early age, no one respected him except the peasants, but he wanted more than that.
"I don't believe you. How can you give me all of that?" Shagatik asked.
Aldred grinned and whispered in his ear. Shagatik listened intently, and the more he listened, the more excited he became.
"Done," Shagatik said.
"Are you not going to think this through?"
"I have thought long enough. Get it done quickly."
"Okay." Aldred grinned.
Right after that, the both of them returned to the garden laughing and chatting with each other.
His wives were confused by this situation, and after Aldred finished chatting with the lord, Mary asked: "Aldred, what did you talk to him about?"
"Don't worry about it. In any case, we can do anything we want here. I will tell Tarrar what to do."
"Hey, Aldred," Shagatik called. "I like you. You can stay in the mansion while you're here."
"Then we will stay here as you wish, My Lord." Aldred slightly bowed which made Shagatik even more excited.
'A man who has a mothership actually bowed to me! This is the best day of my life!!!'
Aldred grinned inside. He already knew what this young lord was thinking.
"We will excuse ourselves now."
"Yes, you may leave."
Aldred and his wives left, escorted to their room by the butler.
In their room, Mary asked again: "Seriously, what did you say to him?"
"I said what he wanted to hear. Status, wealth, assets, power, influence. Anything a lord would want."
"And how do you plan to give him all of that?" Mareona asked.
"Give him more golems, build him castles, make new roads for his city, build infrastructures under his name, and build statues of him."
"You played with his ego." Stella smiled.
"At least I am not scamming him," Aldred replied.
"So what do we get, after giving him all of that?" Mareona asked.
"Everything." Aldred grinned. "We can do anything we want in this territory."
He waved his hand, and Tarrar quickly stepped inside.
"It's very convenient that you are available at a moment's notice," Zafrina said.
"It's part of the contract," Tarrar replied.
"Oh really?" Zafrina raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I have to be in the office most of the time, and when I leave the office, I have to be always in a hurry to return."
"What about days off?"
"Days off? What's that?"
Zafrina smiled bitterly.
"So what do you need me for?" Tarrar asked that question to Aldred.
"Set up all of our company here."
"Okay, I will contact the local lord for permission."
"No need. I already take care of that. You can make a small office here, and begin the expansion."
Tarrar frowned. "That usually needs permission from the local lord. And there's usually a lot of tax involved."
"Don't worry about anything. Treat this city like we own it."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously. But just do whatever the lord wants you to do."
"Like what?"
"Building more castles, or fixing the road, and maybe making statues of him."
"That's it?"
Aldred smiled. "That is it."
Tarrar started to smile, knowing the situation. "How old is the lord?"
Aldred grinned. "14."
Tarrar started laughing. "No wonder. You better hope he doesn't have an old adviser."
"He won't listen to no one as long as I feed his ego."
"I see… Now I understand. It should be easy to handle this territory," Tarrar said.
"Yes, politics is very easy for you. Handling a 14-year-old lord won't be a problem. But try to make him dependent on us, so even if he realized it in the future, he couldn't do anything."
"Aldred, that is very evil," Mira said.
"That's not evil, Mira. That's business," Aldred said. "Besides, I am building infrastructures and better roads for the good of the people as well. That dumb lord, wouldn't even think about the situation of his own people."
What Aldred said was true, so Mira couldn't really retort that. And now that she thought about it, she supported Aldred's idea fully.
"Are we going to other cities as well?" Mary asked.
"Of course. There are a lot of hills and mountains to the south and west. We need to make a base there, and mine the resources before selling it directly to the lizardman."
"Won't that upset the Lizardfolk if you mine the resources in their territory?" Tarrar asked.
"Then I have a better idea. We will let them rent our golems for mining."
