69 Subordinate

Heading into the house with Celes, Jim checked out the new shop category.

[Elf]

[Base Price - 10,000]

[Human]

[Base Price - 1,000]

[Goblin]

[Base Price - 5]

'Wait, Base Price?' Jim tried purchasing a Goblin, instead of simply appearing, he had an additional menu appear. Within it, he could select a variety of options to modify the Goblin. Size, Height, Intelligence, Magic Affinity, Spirit Roots, there were countless options to choose. Spending an hour, Jim searched through everything and raised all the advantageous options to the max.

[Neo Goblin]

[Price - 5,000,000]

[Confirm Purchase?]

'...Let's not.' Jim decided instead to purchase an Elf, it was one of the more expensive subordinates he could select, but they had long lifespans and good magic talent from the start. That was exactly what he wanted, an army of mages, his puppets had the downside of being unable to use magic and cultivation. Although he could make them rather easily and give them decent strength, they couldn't grow much beyond that and were rather dumb, he couldn't give them complex commands such as "Search the forest for this particular plant."

They would go to the forest, sure, but would then wander around aimlessly until he called them back. Even if they trampled on the plant he sent them to get they wouldn't notice it, Jim wondered if they could even comprehend what a plant was.

Before making the purchase, Jim noticed that Celes stopped cultivating. She had broken through to Late Qi Gathering Realm.

Jim: "Congratulations!"

Celes: "Ehehe..."

Jim: "Want your reward now or later?"

Celes looked at him in confusion.

Celes: "Reward? Now, I suppose."

Jim scooped her up in a princess carry and headed to the bed.

Celes: "Ah..."

Realizing what the reward was, Celes blushed heavily. 'Didn't think I'd be giving a princess carry to an actual princess.'

Late that night, Jim got up and snuck out of the house, his destination was an alley between several shops. A group of 20 men were gathered together, talking in hushed tones. The occasional passerby could feel intense bloodthirst and intimidation, everyone chose to steer clear.

Ruffian A: "That bitch still hasn't left the city. When the hell do we get paid?"

Ruffian B: "We can enjoy her for a while before killing her, right boss?"

Ruffian Boss: "No, she's got magic talent, we need to go for a quick kill."

Ruffian A: "I'm fucking bored, sitting around all day is pissing me off."

Ruffian C: "At least she moves around without guards, does she think having status means she's untouchable?"

Jim: "You guys seem to be enjoying yourselves, mind if I join in?"

Ruffian D: "Who the fuck?"

The men drew weapons and surrounded Jim, they were surprised that someone would approach nonchalantly.

Ruffian C: "Boss, I've seen this guy hanging around the target. He's got a house in the wealthy area, they might have found out."

Ruffian Boss: "They wouldn't send just one person to deal with us, much less a rich bastard. This does feel off, let's kill him and take her out."

*Splat* Jim's appearance suddenly shifted for an instant, he was immediately back in the same position, but over 10 of the ruffians had been pounded into meat paste. An overwhelming pressure was emitting from Jim, the remaining men were frozen in fear and couldn't even take a step back, their legs wouldn't respond.

Jim: "Now then, which of you can tell me who hired you?"

Waiting a moment, nobody responded. Jim launched another assault, only 3 were left now.

Jim: "I'd advise you to speak up soon."

Ruffian: "F-f-f-"

Jim: "Hmm?"

The boss could hardly let out a sound, he desperately wanted to speak up, but it just wouldn't happen.

Boss: "First Prince!"

He was finally able to squeeze out words. Still trembling in fear, he could hardly think, the only thing on his mind was saving his life.

Boss: "It was the First Prince, he thought Princess Celestine would inherit the throne and wanted her eliminated!"

Jim: "I see, any proof?"

Boss: "Um...no. Wait! The contact gave me a note."

Quickly producing a sheet of paper with some writing on it, the boss didn't hesitate to toss it over.

Boss: "You'll let us go now, right?"

Immediately after asking the question, the 3 men exploded.

Jim: "Hired or not, you wanted to kill Celes. Why would I let you live?"

Storing the corpses in his inventory, he cleaned the rest of the mess with magic. Jim could tell the man wasn't lying about the note, he held it up and checked the contents.

"Our Lord requires this completed promptly, 2,000 Gold Coins will be your payment."

'Only that much? Killing royalty is incredibly serious and difficult. A pile of gold seems too cheap.'

Heading back to his house, Jim laid down next to Celes and began thinking of what to do next. 'I need to get rid of the horde to the east. Blocking Karna from gathering another horde would be great too. I need to get far stronger if I'm going to give that guy a beating. I also need to go home, is mom doing well? What about Libta? I feel bad bringing Xia to Earth and leaving her there, she must feel out of place.'

Jim eventually nodded off. Early the next day, Jim noticed movement among the eastern horde.

Jim: "We need to head to the capital. The monsters seem like they'll be attacking soon."

Celes: "Yes!"

Before leaving, Jim added further walls on the western end of the city. Placing a large formation there, Jim warned Zana against letting people near it. Suzuki and Talia had started chatting with Celes.

Talia: "Jim, I need to go too. We're from another country after all, not meeting the king when we're taking refuge in his territory is inexcusable."

Jim: "Alright, is everyone ready?"

The three nodded, Jim teleported the group to Amgula soon after.

Suzuki: "This is ridiculous, how did we get here so fast?"

Jim: "Teleportation Magic."

Talia: "Don't obsess over it, you'll go insane."

Suzuki: "Right..."