Goldenveil’s guards gathered all the loot inside the chamber behind the altar, where the erald coffin rested.
The coffin itself was an artifact capable of slowing the aging process and even preserving the dead.
It was of no use to Ethan, but he knew sothing like this would sell for a fortune to noble families obsessed with immortality.
Being Rank S, it shouldn’t be worth less than a few tens of thousands of gold coins.
The rest of the loot consisted mainly of materials extracted from beasts, including a single bottle of third-stage beast blood and a few hundred bottles of second-stage beast blood.
Ethan would give the third-stage bottle to John to craft an even higher-quality green fairy wine.
This, of course, wouldn’t be a two-month project. The blood of a third-stage beast had to be used with much greater care and he’d give John the entire winter to work on it.
Other than that, there were weapons and armor of good quality. More than enough to equip all of Goldenveil’s second-stage warriors with gear suitable even for third-stage warriors.
In the end, Ethan just sighed and motioned for the guards to prepare everything for transport and seal the mine, preventing it from being overrun by beasts again.
There was still much to do. He needed to build a steel mill to refine the tal, train miners, and prepare those who would work on the ore.
The system would handle much of that, but his plans would still take at least a few months to co to fruition.
Most likely, only by the beginning of next winter would he actually be able to extract ore on a large scale.
"There’s nothing to be done..."
Ethan shook his head and, with the guard at the ready, set off for Goldenveil.
By the ti they arrived, the sun was already setting on the horizon, painting the sky in fading shades of amber.
Curious eyes followed the returning guard through the village, and upon realizing there were no casualties, sighs of relief spread among the villagers.
The won prepared hearty and delicious als, bringing them to the guard barracks with cheerful expressions.
Exhausted from the expedition, the guards didn’t hesitate to devour everything. That night, they would sleep with full bellies.
A separate al was also prepared for Ethan, since Elena didn’t cook and Alice had been busy all day. It was naturally more refined and made with much greater care than the food served to the guards.
Neither of the girls looked down on Elena for staying locked in her room all day. Both knew she worked hard. Perhaps even harder than the two of them combined, despite doing so in a completely different way.
They were smart enough to understand that creating a detailed urban developnt plan, along with a strategy for its implentation, wasn’t a job for just one person.
Still, Elena was doing it all on her own.
After dinner with Evelyn and Alice, Ethan left his armor with Roderik for repairs and headed to the mansion.
Standing in front of the door, already waiting for him with a dazzling smile, was a sensual and elegant black beauty.
Her arms were crossed beneath her ample bosom, the weight of those full breasts pushed upward by the pressure, dark flesh swelling against her neckline and deepening the valley of her cleavage.
Her wide hips were cocked slightly to one side, accentuating the round swell of her shapely ass beneath the fabric of her dress.
"Finally back, my lord? I have a few little surprises to show you, fufufu..." Elena gave a soft giggle and stepped forward, closing the distance between them as she reached up to rest her hands on his shoulders.
Ethan did not hold back.
His hands found her waist and pulled her against him. Her large, dark tits crushed against his chest with the sudden impact, the generous mounds flattening under the pressure before molding snugly on his chest.
It was a warm, soft, and pleasant embrace.
Alice, standing beside them, rely blushed, while Evelyn looked away.
"I’ll take a look at your work soon, but first..." Ethan raised his hand, touching the mansion’s door behind Elena. "I have a little surprise of my own."
He smiled, activating the instant construction.
Imdiately, a long list of possible improvents appeared before him.
Ethan wasn’t one to cling to luxury, but the Lord’s mansion, whether he liked it or not, was the seat of governnt for Goldenveil.
In a world where prestige was one of the most important currencies for a noble, even military nobles like his father cared about having prestigious seats of governnt.
If even that old man, obsessed with armies and functional military fortresses, recognized the importance of this, Ethan naturally wouldn’t be any different.
His eyes scanned through the many options.
At first, he considered a simple mansion with a prestigious enough exterior. But upon weighing his current wealth, he changed his mind.
Eleven thousand gold coins was more than he could spend in Goldenveil, and soon his coffers would be full again.
Of course, more advanced mansions required many mana cores to function.
However, counting only the corrupted cores that served solely as energy sources, he had accumulated nearly a two hundred just from clearing the abandoned iron mines.
After searching for a few monts, he finally found sothing that caught his eye.
[Na: Mansion of the Last Sword Lord
Description: A mansion design used in the construction of the residence of the last Imperial Sword Lord, created as a way to honor and pay tribute to the old warrior in his retirent.
Effect: 20% aura and mana density within a five-kiloter radius. 10 prestige.
Maintenance: 10 lower-grade magic crystals per month.
Internal area: 7,000 square ters.
External area: 15,000 square ters.
Price: 8,000 gold coins.]
Ethan’s eyes lit up the mont he saw it, especially the effects.
A twenty percent increase in mana density within a five-kiloter radius, from a single building? It was absurd.
Great kingdoms spent millions of gold coins just to strengthen their magical arrays and increase a city’s mana density by a re ten or fifteen percent.
Twenty percent for just eight thousand gold coins was practically a steal.
Without hesitation, he bought the mansion.
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