Child of Destiny

...

"Are you willing to take a gamble, Big Sis?"

Hearing those words, Shiella did not immediately respond to Shin and stared at him intently. She was trying to read what this little brother of hers was planning to do. But after not seeing any change in his expression and maintaining that serious look, she could only smile and shake her head.

"I can see that you are serious about this," she said before quickly adding. "So, you are planning to ask me to sacrifice some of our branches, I guess?"

Shin quickly shook his head and said. "It is not 'sacrifice', but 'transfer'. You are transferring your people from those branches to this port city that we are trying to build."

"You are quite bold, huh? Having the guts to set up twin cities. You sure know how to gamble," commented Shiella.

She pursed her lips before trying to break down everything. "Setting up Twin Cities has a lot of pros and cons."

"Let's talk about some of the pros first. With these cities sitting close to each other, protecting it will be much easier since either city can immediately send reinforcements when needed. You can also set up trading routes connected to the two cities for the NPC merchants, earning you additional profits."

"And since the locations of these two cities that you are planning to build have two different main products, one being a city on top of a mountain with the other being a port city near the sea, the profits can be much larger."

"I can already see how good it was," she nodded. "And that is only a few of the benefits of having connected cities. There is also the alliance that you have with the Frozen Kingdom, earning you more rare products for both cities."

"We can also nurture military forces specialized in land, forest, and guerilla warfare given the terrain and the environment around the mountain city. Then for the port city, we can train marines, who specialize in sea battles. If we are successful, then we will be earning more than what we can already have."

She then paused for a moment before adding. "But that is also where the problem lies. This will require a lot of time, effort, and even manpower. If he is a little too slow, then the predators eyeing us may pounce on us before we can even do anything and seize everything."

"Given our current position, we are not in a position to defend both cities. It will be better to focus on building the first city and rushing everything. This way, we can set up more solid defenses and much more mature forces that can defend our land."

"That is only when we can set up the port city and proceed according to the plan."

Her words lingered in the air for a moment as she continued. "…-but"

Shin was quick enough to complete the sentence for her and said. "We will lose the perfect time when the players are still trying to catch up to the rest of the pack."

"With the current state of the game, the slightly behind players are slightly anxious. They are afraid that they will not be able to get their Tier 3 Classes before the entirety of the Second Continent is fully explored."

"Everyone wanted to be one of the first batch to explore the new lands, so everyone is rushing their levels and wanted to find the most suitable training maps where they can grind levels."

"This is the most perfect time for us to build the two cities since the Sky Deceiving Valley is filled with high-level monsters and it is even connected to the Frozen Kingdom, which is filled with a much higher-level monsters and has a lot of unexplored lands."

"The mainstream players will constantly flow toward our way."

Shiella smiled as she could see that Shin could see the bigger picture. "Which is why this is a huge gamble."

She then paused for a moment and asked. "Do you even know how much profit I am giving up if I abandon those branches and transfer to your land? I have poured quite a lot of time, effort, and money just to settle in those places."

Shin smiled cheekily and said. "Then you can just give up the less profitable branches. I hear that the businesses in the Blind Abyss Empire and Serpentine Empire are not doing good. There are also others."

The corner of Shiella's mouth suddenly twitched when she heard that. "You even do your research, huh? Or have you brought my people by offering to craft advanced equipment?"

Shin could not help but sweat profusely when he heard those words as they were clearly on point. Sheilla had hit right on the mark, accurately guessing what he had done.

She then stopped talking for a moment, considering everything seriously. She rhythmically tapped her fingers on the tea table as she weighed her options.

Shin also did not say anything as he kept silent on the side and patiently waited.

A few moments later, the tapping finally stopped as Shiella nodded her head. She then turned to Shin and said. "You are using that relocation order to the Calderock Town and transferring it to the edge of the Sky Deceiving Valley, near the sea, am I right?"

Shin nodded his head. "Naturally."

"Alright, I will be arranging everything and informing my people to get ready," said Shiella before snapping and asking. "How many days do we have before that stupid wall of ice melts?"

Shin thought for a moment, calculating the time. "We only have ten days before it fully melts, but the Frozen Kingdom will still be unavailable at that time due to the monster horde event. Adding everything, we still have twenty to twenty fives days left. In-game time, of course."

"That is more than enough. First, you must keep the information about the relocation of the Calderock Town secret, but you can start promoting that you will be promoting it into a city," instructed Shiella.

Shin needed clarification as each piece of information was connected to the other. He did not know what the difference was between keeping the information about the relocation and spreading the word about the city promotion.

Shiella smiled when she saw Shin trying to figure out her intention. "There is an obvious difference between the two, but each piece of information has a different impact when the top guilds hear about it."

"If you tell them about the relocation, then they will try looking for the best place where you are going to relocate it. But if you tell them about the promotion of the city, then they will focus on what changes in the city will do even though they know that you are going to relocate it into a more profitable place."

Shin quickly understood and nodded his head.

Shiella stood up and was about to leave the virtual space when she suddenly remembered something. "Another thing! The entirety of the Sky Deceiving Valley is your dukedom, right? Then issued a ban for any players from entering the region through the Adventurer Guild and Saint Heaven Kingdom Administrator Hall."

It was at this moment when Shin suddenly remembered that Shiella was supposed to be unaware of the fact that he owned land right now.

He was about to ask about it when Shiella beat him into it. "Little Al, accidentally spilled the beans earlier when I called her."

"Little Al?" asked Shin confusedly.

Shiella giggled and explained. "Alice. Alice Stuart. She is a junior of mine. I called her earlier since I wanted to ask her a favor. That is when she spilled about your land accidentally when we were catching up with each other."

Shin clicked his tongue before asking. "How can I ban the entry of the players in the Sky Deceiving Valley?"

Shiella thought for a moment and shared some information with Shin. "It is a special right given to the new 'lords' of the game. You can ban the entry of the players on your land during the 'preparation phase'."

Shin slightly frowned when he heard that before asking. "Where did you learn about that? From what I know, I should be the first player to own a land. How can you know what I don't even-… know-…"

His words trailed in the air for a moment as realized something. His eyes turned wide as he looked at Shiella, who was currently giving him a smug look.

His cheeks suddenly twitched as he muttered. "D*mn! You even have spies in such a powerhouse guild like the Hydra Guild. And given that you have that information, that spy should be in a very high position."

"Such a thing is pretty normal, and it can't be avoided," said Shiella before snapping once again as she left.

Shin pursed his lips as he stared at the spot where Shiella disappeared before leaning on the chair and closing his eyes.

This time, he would be logging back into the game.

...

Shiella also logged in to the game.

Right after she appeared in her office, she quickly contacted her assistant and summoned her. "Smile, come to my office."

It did not take looking for Delusive Smile to arrive. She carefully knocked on the door before entering. "I'm here, young miss."

Shiella nodded at her before gesturing to the latter to come over. After that, she gave the plan that Shin had given her earlier before instructing. "Go through this and discuss it with the chiefs of the firm. Tell me immediately if they have any changes that they want to suggest."

"I need it by the end of this today," she added, emphasizing the importance of the matter.

Delusive Smile was stunned for a moment and asked for clarification. "Today? The time of the game?"

"What else?" said Shiella, telling the latter that she did not want to repeat herself.

Sensing the mood that Shiella had, Delusive Smile knew that this matter needed to be of utmost importance.

She did not immediately since Shiella had not told her that that was everything. And sure enough, at the very next moment, her boss gave her more instructions. "I also need all the reports, in every branch we have."

"Separate it with all the most profitable branches and the least profitable ones. We are going to some of the branches and transfer them to the new base," she added as she quickly went through the reports on the table.

Despite her eyes skimming through the reports, her mouth continued to give orders. "All the plots of land, the small shops, the main base that we own along with every dungeon that we control from the branches that will be picked are going to be sold. We are not leaving anything behind."

"Look for the buyers and sell everything to them, but don't hold an auction. Sell everything secretly," she added, surprising Delusive Smile greatly.

"B-But-… Young Miss," Delusive Smile wanted to say something, but Shiella quickly cut her off. "Don't worry. We will not be suffering any loss here."

"We will be investing in something that can give us a bigger return," she explained briefly, making Delusive Smile to calm down.

"I understand, young miss," said Delusive Smile, nodding.

After that, Shiella continued to give more instructions, and each one shocked her assistant greatly.

The poor assistant could not keep up properly and almost suffered from a heart attack. Fortunately, she was a professional and able to remember everything and took note of every important point that Shiella had emphasized.

"Remember, you must move with complete secrecy and not let the other Powerhouse Organizations learn about it. Or at the very least, they have to learn about it as late as possible," said Shiella, warning Delusive Smile seriously.

"Don't worry, young miss. I will handle everything personally to ensure it is going according to your instructions," said Delusive Smile confidently.

"Alright, that is all," said Shiella before pausing briefly as she remembered something. "Ah! One last thing, contact that old geezer from the 'Secret Recipe'. Tell him that I have a good business proposition that he will not be able to refuse."

"As for the Assassin Union-… I will contact Cold Moon myself," she added before finally sending off the Delusive Smile.

When she was left alone in the office, Shiella suddenly smiled as her eyes kept on reading through the reports in her hands.

She then muttered with a cheerful tone. "It has been a while since feel like this. It has been a while since I am facing such a challenge."

...