The First Store System

Chapter 377: Unexpected Gain!

Time flew by.

Around four hours had passed since the store opened for the day. In those past hours, the store had only gotten three new customers.

One was the girl who went for the Gods & Demons level training area. The second customer was an ordinary citizen of the Bisan Kingdom, who had only arrived to buy an inferior body healing pill since even the King had vouched for the store.

Only the last customer was some bigshot. It was the King of the neighboring Kingdom, Blue Wyrm Kingdom.

He attempted to make conversations with Aakesh, but since Aakesh didn't show much interest in talking with him, he bought a Mythical-grade weapon and left the store since he had more work to do. His primary purpose for coming to the Bisan Kingdom was something else.

***

"WHAT?" Brinda loudly exclaimed in shock at what she had just heard a moment earlier.

In front of her eyes stood the King of the Blue Wyrm Kingdom.

He currently was kneeling on his right leg, while his right heart was on his chest.

"Your majesty, please take us a tributary," The King had expected such reaction from Brinda, so he repeated again.

The King's name was Martin, and he was a late Void Forging level cultivator. The strength comparison between his Kingdom and the Bisan Kingdom was like comparing a child with an adult.

The Blue Wyrm Kingdom had three Void Forging level cultivators, while even when Punta was the King, the Kingdom still had a single Void Forging expert. The only reason Martin didn't invade the Bisan Kingdom after they defeated the Blue Phoenix Kingdom was due to the family of Punta.

The primary purpose behind Martin's coming here was to become a tributary of the Bisan Kingdom. Since the day he had watched the event in the store, he had been thinking about it.

Today morning when he woke up, he finally decided to go ahead with the decision as he watched a nightmare in his last sleep.

In the nightmare, Brinda was floating in the air. She then coldly ordered a soldier standing in the back of her army to raze the Blue Wyrm Kingdom. Then a man with an unrecognizable face took a step forward and punched the ground. The next moment, the entire landmass in the Blue Wyrm Kingdom, including him and all the citizens, sunk into a pit with an endless depth and lost their lives.

Cultivators like him believed in dreams and nightmares as it showed what their hearts believed, and it was also a sense of intuition.

He woke up from his sleep midway due to the nightmare and wasn't able to sleep after that. When the morning arrived, Martin announced a meeting and called the other two Void Forging cultivators, the nobles, the prime minister, and the head of the treasury.

The meeting wasn't to ask for their suggestion. Instead, it was to announce the decision Martin had reached and to direct his subordinates to prepare.

Since Martin wanted to rescind his Kingdom and make it into only a tributary, he wanted to show the benefits he could provide to Brinda for accepting the Blue Wyrm Kingdom into her fold. He also wanted to gain maximum from his decision, so he ordered his prime minister to create suggestions.

***

"Are you sure?" Brinda asked after calming down from her initial shock.

It was only on the outside she looked calm, and it was only due to the badge. Inside, she had no words to explain what she was feeling right now.

The day she won the tower and got the badge as the present, she became confident that she would invade new territories and expand her Kingdom to an Empire in the future. But even in her wildest dream, she had never thought that not even a month would pass from her crowning ceremony, and she would already get a request from her neighbor Kingdom.

Even she knew the strength difference between the Bisan Kingdom and the Blue Wyrm Kingdom. She was also aware of the reason for the Blue Wyrm Kingdom not invading her territory, so the decision of Martin overwhelmed her thought process.

While there was a storm going on inside, her face looked calm on the outside, while majesty emanated from her.

"Yes, your majesty! Please take the Blue Wyrm Kingdom as your first tributary," Martin didn't dare to look directly at Brinda and responded with a determined tone.

Brinda didn't answer right away but only coldly stared at the kneeling Martin.

Martin didn't dare speak anything and silently waited for Brinda to answer. A few seconds later, the silence turned suffocating for Martin. He even found trouble in breathing.

Brinda wasn't only staring at the kneeling Martin. Instead, she had activated one of the skills of the badge and was listening to the thoughts of Martin.

There were myriads of things going on inside Martin's head, with the majority being the concerns of Brinda rejecting his proposal. The second most prominent problem was the nightmare he had seen.

After finding nothing about schemes and betrayals against the Bisan Kingdom in Martin's head, Brinda stopped the skill.

"Why should I accept your Kingdom?" Brinda asked, breaking the suffocating silence.

Martin heaved a sigh of relief, hearing the question. He felt such as Brinda didn't reject his proposal.

"Your majesty, the first benefit the Blue Wyrm Kingdom can provide you is the Primal stone mine we have on the territory…," Martin began repeating all the things he had discussed with his ministers.

The more Brinda learned, the shocked she became. Fortunately for her, the badge helped her maintain her calm on the outside.

When Brinda had learned about the proposal, she had thought that Martin's proposal was to give an annual tribute and ask for protection from future invasion. But from what she had heard just now, Martin was giving up any independence his Kingdom could have.

If Brinda accepted the proposal, she would almost have the same level of control over the Blue Wyrm Kingdom she would have after invading and conquering it.

Brinda could understand the reason Martin had taken the decision, but she couldn't digest the amount of desperation he had.

Even the ministers were taken aback by Martin's willingness to give up so many things, but such was the effect the nightmare had on him. He wanted to survive and maintain his status. He also wanted the same thing for his citizens, so except for giving up his position as the ruler of the territory, he gave up every other benefit.

If not for the calming effect of the badge, Brinda would have shouted in excitement and agreed right away. The badge helped her maintain a calm mind, so she didn't agree right away, but instead, she asked a question, "What benefits do you want to gain from this move?"

"Your majesty, I only want a few benefits…," Martin finally looked up and directly stared into Brinda's eyes and started sharing the things he wanted.

The first benefit he wanted from Brinda was a piece of land in Kakot, solely belonging to him and his family. He asked for such since the store was also one of the reasons behind him wanting to become the tributary.

Traveling from his Kingdom to the Bisan Kingdom wasn't possible every day, so Martin wanted land for him and his family.

His second request was a travel portal with Brinda covering the cost required in its creation. After its establishment, Brinda could only charge the amount the portal would need for a trip and gain no profit.

Martin only wanted this as the travel portal would help the citizen of the Blue Wyrm Kingdom to travel to the Bisan Kingdom quickly without being able to pay a hefty sum.

"You only want these benefits?" Brinda calmly asked. The requests Martin had put up weren't very troubling and were below the cost of what Brinda would gain from taking the Blue Wyrm Kingdom under her control.

"Yes, your majesty!" Martin responded with a determined expression.

"I agree with all of your requests, but your request of maintaining the hereditary position of the ruler is unacceptable," Brinda told Martin after staying silent for some time.

Martin's one request was the position of the administrator of the territory, becoming a hereditary position belonging to his family after him. It was due to his concern over the future of his family. They wouldn't be royal families after Brinda accepted his proposal; they would only be a noble administrator family.

"You can stay at this position for the next hundred years, but after that, I would select, who would be the next administrator of the territory," Brinda further added.

Martin fell silent, hearing Brinda.

"What about the status of my family after I left the position of the administrator?" Martin didn't accept Brinda's demand right away but instead asked a question.

"The status of a noble family," Brinda responded right away as she had expected the question.

"I would also allow your family to have three lifetime promises from the Kingdom. It doesn't matter who's the King or how long has passed; they would complete your promise if it didn't harm the Kingdom in any way," She didn't stop speaking and further added.

Brinda did this as she understood the concern Martin had for his family's future.

***

"Your servant is in your service, your majesty," Martin commented while kneeling on the ground.

***

A/N: Sorry, there would be only a single chapter today. I couldn't get enough time to write two chapters. With this, I owe you two chapters. I will make up for it in the next week. Sorry, once more!

Thank you for the reading!

Have a great day/night!