Chapter 142 Shocking Surprise

Although the rewarded warriors stayed in the castle for a while, Aion decided to leave in order to check the shops in the capital. He wanted to leave as soon as possible, so he had to use his time wisely.

Aion bought a lot of things with his extra money, and he began to process them right away. However, he only got a few runes, and they were all elemental types. Aion tried to study them in his free time, but he didn't learn much when he tried to write the same symbols on a piece of paper. It didn't make him feel like it was some sort of alphabet or as if they were drawings with some meaning.

"I guess I am approaching this in the wrong way…" Aion thought. "Regardless, even the high-quality iron and steel of the capital is making the refinement of the weapons improve… I need something else to help. Using gold coins is an option, but… I should keep this as a last resort. The more I spent now, the less power I can get later, it will be better to save the money for an explosive power up."

If Aion had more freedom, he could travel around and explore the dungeons, but even the ones in the kingdom weren't that impressive. The monsters were weak, so the materials of their bodies weren't of high quality.

"If only I could use the mines of that asshole…" Aion thought. "Still, unlike dungeons that spawn monsters often, I can't just Invade a mine and process the minerals. That would affect the economy of that region and cause problems for a lot of people. While I don't have any loyalty toward the people of this kingdom, it doesn't mean that I should act like a criminal."

As expected, Aion will have to check the dungeons around the world to evolve his weapons. The basic classes he could do with what he could get from his dungeon, but not from the next ones. Regardless, he will have to find some intel about them instead of searching around blindly. He had some time for that, so there wasn't a reason to rush it.

"We can return now, mom," Aion said when he opened his room and then found her staring at the ceiling.

"Already? I was hoping to walk around the capital and buy some sweets," Artemisia said.

"Just how much you love sugar…" Aion said and then sighed. "I guess we can stay for another day… still, the territory expanded by almost fifty percent, and we have to work with that in mind now while planning the future as well."

In the end, Aion decided to stay for another day, but more than that, and things would get complicated. The reason for that was the fact that the channel was almost ready, and Aion had to talk with the people of the new villages on his territory. With his current magic power, Aion could easily fill half of the wells of his town in a week, and the water would last for at least two months, but that wasn't something that he could do forever. Besides, he had the promise to fulfill.

When Aion and his mother returned, he found Rarth and his friends already finishing the bridge that would pass above the channel. With his help, things would have been finished a lot easier, but the final work wasn't so bad. At the same time, the channel ended only a few dozen meters away from the walls of the town.

"It seems that your job is finally over," Aion said and then offered a handshake. "Now it is time to fulfill my part of the agreement."

"About that, master, we have changed our minds," Rarth said.

"... How so?" Aion asked while frowning.

"Naturally, we would like to be paid for our work, but in a different way," Rarth replied. "You are currently devising a plan to turn the port into a port town, right? Let us leave there and work as sailors."

That wasn't a half-bad idea… Aion had six ships now, and he was looking for more people to work on them. It was hard to find since few people in the territory had that kind of experience, and people from the outside might cause him problems.

"All right, let's work to build your houses there and then hire some other people to help you guys," Aion said.

Aion never wondered that he was putting too much trust into former bandits. After all, they were too scared of Aion to try to become his enemies. In any case, while Aion was working on expanding the port, he also went to talk with the new inhabitants of his territory. Aion thought that some people in those villages would leave, but they didn't. Apparently, their former lords never helped them much since they lived so far away from their houses. So, they decided to wait and see how Aion would deal with them.

In the end, he didn't do anything special and just worked to help them expand their activities. Thanks to that, they only felt confused… Still, after six months, they showed no signs of Planning to leave their villages.

Around that same time, Aion received a letter from his father. Just as he had told him, the marriage ceremony of several of his siblings was going to happen in just two weeks. He had to prepare a lot of things beforehand since many projects were ongoing on his territory.

While Aion was thinking about what to do, he suddenly heard a sound coming from his mother's room… When Aion got to the Guardian class, he felt less worried about leaving her sleeping alone, and he used Devotion to protect her while she slept. Still, when Aion dashed to the room, he suddenly saw his vision blurred, and a powerful wave of sleepiness took over his body…

"Sleeping gas… they used… on her…" Aion thought when he fell on the floor of his room.