When the Duke heard Vicente's worried words, he stopped cutting his meat and turned his attention entirely to this young man.
The Duke's wife asked, "Are you talking about The Seven Day Tsunami?"
"No, I'm talking about The Purification," Vicente replied as he looked at the woman and then into Duke Scott's eyes.
The Duke had already guessed that this was the case but asked, "Are the problems with monsters in the south of the continent really associated with this?"
"I'm 99% sure, Your Grace," Vicente said confidently, attracting the stares of the Duke's family in the surrounding area.
He explained, "I interrogated a late 3rd-stage monster while I was returning to the province. It confirmed to me that the monster movements coming from the north of the continent are directly related to The Purification.
There's still some time before this vampire plan, so many things could happen, including continental forces trying to stop it. But I'm already considering that the worst will happen, so I plan to make my family prosper and survive this calamity."
The Duke didn't question this any further but tried to think like Vicente, "Let's say that The Purification does happen and its consequences reach the kingdom. What exactly do you plan to do to protect your family?"
"As the Duke already knows, I have many contacts around the province. Over the next few years, I want to increase my business and build up a stronger influence network.
Through this, I intend to raise funds to increase my men's average strength and build a place strong enough to withstand aggression from monsters.
This place wouldn't just be for my group. We are not strong enough alone to stop the monsters that will arrive here, Your Grace.
But suppose I can bring my business partners together to form a partnership. In that case, we can protect ourselves together and try to overcome this crisis," Vicente replied while gesturing and looking the leader of the Scott family in the eye.
The Duke agreed with Vicente's every word because those things were exactly what he would do in a situation like this. Raise the power of his family and gather allies to fight against their enemies.
"I have a particularly ambitious plan," Vicente commented as he felt the silence of his surroundings.
"Tell me about it." The Duke understood this would probably need special support or permission to work.
Vicente relaxed in his chair and asked, "Does Your Grace know that Commanders of the royal army have the power to build new posts on His Majesty's territory even without the authorization or knowledge of our monarch?"
"Hmm, yes. There are matters that can't be delayed or even that don't pose a risk to the integrity of the state. Soldiers of good rank are free to use His Majesty's lands as they wish," The Duke replied, "This has to happen in a special way since sooner or later, this sort of thing would come to His Majesty's attention. But it is possible to use His Majesty's lands within the law.
Why are you telling me this?"
"I intend to ally myself with the army and receive some land of no use to the state in our province. I intend to build a city there where we can better protect ourselves from the monsters coming from the north."
"Oh?"
"That's... That's really ambitious," The Duke's daughter commented in surprise.
"Something like that would be costly. Getting the land shouldn't be too difficult if you have good contacts within the army. But building an entire city will take time and a lot of resources," The Duke commented.
"By the way, why build a city? Could you do something different in a new city that you couldn't do here?" The Duke's wife asked the most important question.
Vicente nodded positively, "I won't go into details, but my men and I have developed some methods that can significantly increase our chances of successfully defending a city as long as it follows the construction model we need.
No city in the kingdom follows this type of construction, and changing a city like Saltstar City would be as much work or more than building a whole new place."
"I see..." The Duke pondered the matter, somewhat curious as to how such a place would work if it could be built in time.
"What exactly do you need from me?" The Duke asked directly.
Vicente didn't hesitate to answer, "I already have a soldier in the army who can pass on these lands to me. At the moment, she's looking for the best place for us, and as soon as she finds it, she'll give me the temporary right to develop the area.
I won't be able to do it alone since I'm not a noble. But if I have the support of at least a third of the nobles in the province, I'll be able to go ahead with this plan without breaking any laws."
"Do you want my support to reach that number of nobles on your side?" The Duke asked.
"Hmm. For now, I won't ask for financial support. If you want to do business with me, I'll use my profits to pay for part of the construction of this city.
But once the city begins to take shape and I can prove to my potential partners that we can finish building the place on time, every stakeholder in the city will have to contribute to the completion of the construction," Vicente explained.
"At that time, we will also show why this city will be safer than any other in the province."
"That sounds simple," The Duke's daughter commented.
Rory then said, "Starting construction and showing how the place will work will be simple. But to maintain a city like this, we'll need ordinary citizens to do the maintenance work and generate wealth.
To do this, we'll need support from the nobles of the province to convince some of the people in their cities that we can be trusted.
We will also need the army to give legitimacy to that city, and the official bodies present there. This will largely depend on the actions of His Grace."
The Duke understood exactly how he would be involved in all this.
Vicente could build a headquarters just for his family in a place like this, as the army would be able to give him land without him needing support from almost anyone. But to form a city, even a small one, he would need legitimacy, which only the nobles could give him.
'I don't think I'll lose anything by promising to go through with it,' The Duke pondered, feeling that, however difficult it might be to carry out these plans, the chances of him losing anything were very slim.
He would only have to promise his help in the first instance, and later on, he could refuse to go along with Vicente in these plans.
On the other hand, he wanted to have a good relationship with a young 4th-stage genius, who was already influential before his recent return to the city but who was even more so now because of his advancement and 4th-stage mount.
"We can go ahead with these plans, young Vicente," The Duke opened his mouth, "I can't promise I'll go all the way with this endeavor, but I can guarantee that I'll give you the support you need to get this plan off the ground. If it proves to be viable, I will consider joining your endeavor once the place has been presented."
"I thank you, Your Grace," Vicente smiled in satisfaction.
"In the meantime, I have other business I'm interested in doing with you," The Duke said as he went back to eating his food.
