The Changes

Proofread by Thomas F. 9th Feb 2025

"Fuck, the pain!" I said as I massaged my head; it is not easy to utilise the contract skills on so many people, nearly all of whom are level 10+.

I had not shown it in front of the girls, but now that Carla had left the office, I could finally massage my head. The pain would have been greater if not for the advancement of my base class, which relieved some of the pain.

I had messaged my head for a minute before finally opening the class window.

Class:

 Souteneur Merchant Lv. 02

 Lawyer Lv. 1

Charisma: 5

Intelligence: 8

Vitality: 5

Skills:

1. Trusty Presence

2. Worthy Goods

3. Contract

Attribute Points: 02

Since receiving my base class a month ago, I have yet to use the attribute point I had earned. Many times, I had been tempted—especially to invest it in vitality after witnessing my father's brutal murder—but I had held back.

That incident had left me with an unnatural fear of assassins, a shadow that lingered in my mind. But I needed to think rationally. Attribute points were crucial, influencing everything from enhancing skills to strengthening both body and mind.

Charisma boosted charm and charm-related abilities; intelligence increased thought speed, and vitality—the most valued attribute—enhanced healing power and even slowed ageing. Every choice mattered, and I couldn't afford to waste it.

There are also attributes like strength and mana; the strength attribute could be gained after getting any type of fighter class or the classes that are physical in nature, like the girl's classes, while the mana attribute is related to the spellcasters, but getting it is hard, near impossible for someone like me, who doesnot have any mage talent.

I have two attribute points, and now I plan to spend them. The wise choices areintelligence and charisma, as all three of my skills require both.

I have enough intelligence, so after thinking for a moment, I decided to spend my attribute points on charisma, bringing it to seven.

Class:

Souteneur Merchant Lv. 2

Lawyer Lv. 1

Charisma:7

Intelligence: 8

Vitality: 5

Skills:

4. Trusty Presence

5. Worthy Goods

6. Contract

Attribute Points: 0

I immediately felt the change; I felt the headache decrease considerably and the power of my skills increase, sensing that a smile couldn't help but appear on my face.

While vitality and strength project hard power, and over 75% of people spend their points on them, those with charisma and intelligence rule over them.

While part of me wanted to invest in vitality, I chose charisma because it will aid me the most.

I have an important meeting with the head architect, and this little advancement will significantly help me when negotiating.

There was about an hour before they arrived for a meeting, and I couldn't help but feel excited and nervous about it.

I had big ideas for the establishment; I had worked on them since my father decided to open a brothel here, but he did not listen. 

Now, since it belongs to me, I will apply all those ideas. I hope the money I have is enough.

Nearly an hour passed when I saw the carriage of Nielson stopping in front of the establishment's gates. A few seconds later, three people walked inside—two men and one woman. While I could not see the woman's face from a distance, I still recognised her.

"I did not think she would come," I said with surprise, but nevertheless, I am happy. I would be ecstatic if she brought that thing.

Click!

A few minutes later, the door opened, and Carla walked inside, leading three people in. A middle-aged man, an older man in his sixties, and a woman who looked about the same age as Carla.

The middle-aged man was the architect, Lloyd. Beside him was a bald older man who looked in his mid-sixties. He should be head architect Davidson.

Though my eyes are on the woman leading them.

"Mage Valentina, I did not think you would grace this small establishment of mine," I said to a beautiful woman who came with Carla.

She is Valentina Elar, a powerful mage who looks to be in her early thirties. She is also a beautiful woman with bright amber eyes and gorgeous blond hair with a hint of silver.

If one looked at her enough, they would be easily able to identify that she had some elf blood in her. It is good that her features are not prominently elvish; otherwise, it would be hard for her to live in the empire, which had followedultra-humanist principles ever since the current emperor ascended the throne.

"How can I not? When I heard you had taken over the establishment, I couldn't help but come," she said and sat on the seat before me.

She is head of the Nielson in Greltheaven, a prominent business firm—not as big as the House of Silver, but still considerably big. It is pretty confusing that, despite her power, she chose this small city.

My father had few opinions about it, and so did I.

I met her once, about a year ago. She had brought many designs of the establishment to show to my father. I wish she had brought that tool; it would have made things much easier.

"I am glad," I said with a smile.

"So, what changes do you want to bring to this fine establishment of yours?" she asked with curiosity burning in her eyes. "Many, I am sure, you have remembered some of my ideas, which my late father had so graciously turned down," I said with a smile.

"It's good that I have brought this thing, then; it will make things a lot easier," she said, pulling out a thick black roll like a blueprint and rolling it out on the table.

I expected she might bring this thing and had already cleared the space for it.

Soon, the thick parchment rolled on the table, and one could see delicate metallic runes covering its every surface. This thing is Heavencraft parchment.

It cost more than the mansion we are sitting in.

She pressed her index finger on the parchment, and all the runes lit up before the holographic projection appeared.

It is the symbol of their firm. She touched on a few runes, and soon, a holographic projection of the manor appeared in front of it—not just the manor, but the whole estate.

Watching the projection, I couldn't help but marvel at it. Holographic technology was still in a nascent phase on Earth; it would have taken at least two decades before it would have appeared in the hands of the general populace, but here, it has been available for thousands of years.

"Let's begin," said Mage Valentina with voice becoming all business.

"We will start from the outside," I said, and I opened the file on my desk and took out the page from it. As I said, I had a plan.

"I want to change the gate and crest on it," I added and handed her the sketch.

"Are you planning to change your business's name, Master Silver?" she asked as she put down the sketch. "Yes, the name lord's pleasure feels over the top," I replied, to which she smiled.

Another reason is that the old name is too limiting. I do not want my business to be limited.

The gate in the projection disappeared, and a new one appeared in its place. She quickly moved her hand across the runes, and the shape of the gate began to change until it became just as I drew on the sketch before a crest started to form in its centre.

"Good, now we just have to change the colour of it," I said, and she quickly changed the gate and crest to the colour I needed.

"Perfect!" I praised.

"Now, let's move the lamps by the gate; I need them a little bigger, but they'relight gentler," I said.

"We have a few designs in the requirement you mentioned; please look," said Valentina, and projection of hundreds of lamps appeared.

"This one," I selected, and a moment later, the lamps, by the changes, appeared and let out light. Their light covered the same area, but their glow was not glaring to the eyes.

"Do you want to change the colour of light, Master Silver?" she asked. I told her which colour I wanted the lights in, and when the lamp colours changed, they began to cast even more beautiful lights.

"Very good; now let's move to the garden," I said, flipping the file's pages. "I thought you liked the garden?" she asked. "I do, but it could become even better with some small changes," I replied.

The plot is big. Fifteen thousand square feet, with over 70% being the garden. I want to be beautiful, accent the mansion that is the main attraction.

"I want to change the Fasak Flair flower trees on the walkway to Elyren Moonflower trees," I added.

The Elyren Moonflower tree is an elvish tree, kind of similar to cherry blossoms on Earth but magical. These trees absorb sunlight and radiate it at night.

The gentle lights this tree releases are too beautiful.

"Beautiful," Carla whispered as Elyren Moonflower trees appeared on the wide walkway; the real thing would be even more beautiful.

"Master Silver, do you still want a fountain in front of the mansion?" asked Mage Valentina. She seemed to remember my argument with my father, where he also shot down my idea about the fountain.

"Of course," I replied.

Soon, a projection of tens of fountains appeared, and each one was so beautiful that I wanted to choose every one of them, but I had to choose one, and I did after looking around for minutes.

"This one," I selected, pointing at the mermaid fountain, and a few seconds later, a mermaid fountain appeared in front of the mansion and began releasing the water in a way that would be physically impossible on the earth.

"It looks wonderful," I said and turned to the mansion where I wanted to make the most significant and most important changes.

"Mage Valentina, I hope you will be patient with me; there are several colour combinations I have to try before deciding," I said to her.

"Of course," she agreed, and we began to try different colour schemes; I have many written down in my diary. Some of them look quite bad, and some quite good, better than I had imagined.

If I had a big budget and time, I would have done more than change the colour of the mansion. Though the mansion is currently beautiful, many other changes could still be made to it, and I will make them in the future.

"It looked beautiful, beyond beautiful," Carla breathed out in shock as we finalised the details, while I could only sigh.

I have not only changed the colour but ended up making several small outer changes to the mansion. I did not want to make them, but I couldn't hold myself back, and the woman didn't help with her suggestions.

'These damned bastards, they were going to loot me blind,' I cursed at them, but I was not angry at them as the mansion looked beautiful, more beautiful than I had imagined it in my dreams.

"Now, let's move toward the interior," I said before I made any more changes to the exterior, although I still wanted to. I had already done more than I had initially planned, and they would cost me a lot.

A second later, the interior appeared, and it was just like reality, down to the furniture, which is not surprising considering everything is from their guild.

"I want to overhaul the first floor completely. Erase everything on the first floor," I said to her, which surprised everyone.

"Even the rooms?" she asked. "Yes, rooms, too," I said, and a few seconds later, the whole floor became blank. I nodded, opened the folder, took out my sketches, and placed them neatly on the table.

When Carla saw them, a stunned shock flashed across her face. The exterior changes were striking but were nothing compared to the transformation I intended for the interior.

The changes I had planned extended beyond the building—they would reshape the establishment's entire business model.

"I hope you will be able to materialise them into reality," I told Mage Valentina.

She smiled, and for the next one and a half hours we spent on the interior.

We had made so many of them. Even girls that had living here wouldn't recognise the mansion to be same, after seeing them.

It isn't only the three floors I had changed, but also the basement where the girls live.

Honestly, I wanted to make more significant changes to the basement and provide more amenities to the ladies, but the budget did not allow me to do that.

Still, I did what I could; it would make their life a little more comfortable.

"Master Silver, do you have any other changes you want to make?" asked Mage Valentina. "No, I am done," I replied, despite wanting to nod.

"I hope you will be a little gentle with the cost," I said to her, to which she smiled.

"We always charge fairly, Master Silver," she replied with a smile, and I wanted to snort at that, but I controlled my emotions and kept a smile on my face as I waited for her to butcher me with the cost.

"It would be five thousand, four hundred and thirty imperials, but I will give you discount. You only need to pay us five hundred and forty imperials, " she said with a beautiful smile.

I knew the cost would be high, but I did not expect it to go this high.

The cost five hundred and forty thousand crowns. In imperials five thousand four hundred.

"It is too much, Mage Valentina; please state the fair price," I said. Five thousand and four hundred imperials is the right price, Master Silver," she replied, and her smile became even more beautiful.

I felt her bargaining skill, and it is powerful. The compulsion to agree with her price was so strong that I even opened my mouth to agree before closing it forcefully.

"How about five thousand imperials? It is a fair price," I said with gritted teeth and a fake smile.

"You must be joking, Master Silver. If we agree to it, we will be suffering the loss," She replied. "How about fifty-two hundred and fifty imperials," she offered, and the power of her skill increased further.

"Fifty one hundred imperials," I said with gritted teeth; the fake smile had already disappeared from my face under the pressure of her skill.

"Fifty-two hundred imperials," she countered, increasing the power of her skill soI began to sweat from all over my body.

I have done many negotiations on the earth; it was a part of the occupation, and I had done them here too, but that was training my father gave me, where he would bombard me with his skills.

What I am doing now is a real thing, and it is fucking hard; more brutal than any bargaining I have ever done.

"Fifty one hundred and fifty imperials, this is my final offer, or I will find someone else to make the changes," I threatened, and by the time my tongue let out the last word, my voice was barely audible.

"Fifty one hundred and fifty imperials it is. It's nice doing business with you, Master Silver." She agreed with a bright smile. She shook my sweaty hand, andall I could do was put a straining smile on my face.

The price we agreed on is fair; I have done the research, and if I had done it with the other firm, it would have cost the same or even more.

"I hope you will be finished with the adjustment before the city's inauguration," I said, and I could see head architect Davidson opening his mouth but stopping himself after seeing the look on Mage Valentina's face.

"It will be tough with nearly all the projects having the same deadline, but since it is you, Master Silver. We will finish it before the inauguration," she said, and when I heard that, a smile couldn't help but appear on my face.

I had feared that her firm might be unable to accomplish it and would have to cancel some changes, but we didn't have to.

"Thank you," I said, feeling genuinely grateful.

I know how many projects are going on around the city; all of them want to be finished in a month when the fourth prince will formally inaugurate the city.

We finalised the small details in the next few minutes, such as the payment plan.

"Now that we have finalised all the details, let's sign the contract," she said, takingout the paper and the small wand.

A moment later, a couple of thin red lights came out of the wand and began to carve the letters across the paper.

Quite a skilful use of the heat beam spell; not everybody could use this spell with her level of precision, where one of the heat lines needs to be thin enough and move fast enough with such precise control that they will not burn the paper and form a clear text.

The incredible thing is that she handles the seven heat lines at once; no common mage could achieve such a feat.

My father had said she is at least a Lv. 25 Mage, which is quite a high level, as the spellcaster classes are notoriously hard to level up.

It's not surprising considering they are one of the most powerful classes in the world.

Soon, she had finished printing the contract and slid it toward me; as I touched the contract, I knew she had activated her contract skill, and I added mine to that.

I read the contract carefully, assessing every line for loopholes. There are many, but they are familiar and could be exploited by both sides if things go wrong.

So, after seeing everything was fine, I signed the contract and slid it toward her. The moment she touched the contract, she arched her brow at me before signing the contract.

"It's nice doing business with you, Master Silver," she said as she raised her hands for a shake. "Likewise, Mage Valentina," I replied as I shook her hand.