Chapter 3: Realvi

Linea was not at all happy with the current situation. As he read through the next few pages of the book the Goddess had given him,  she had provided at least some general information about the rest of the world for him. Aistel, the name of the world he now inhabited, possessed a high density of the Goddesses influence, or as this world called it, mana. This mana could be used by people to create magic in elemental forms, earth, wind, fire, and water. He read some titbits about the combinations of various elements, but this was hardly a priority. 

 

Blessings on the other hand were something else entirely – Ah that was what that bit meant with my character chart on the first page – from what he now understood from the Goddess’s written explanations, these were a sort of inbuilt talent. While there were many more of these, the Goddess chose only to explain four of these that were special, as they belonged to the Royal Families. 

 

He was currently in the Holy Kingdom of Lendell, with a mixed population of humans and dwarfs, taking up most of the center of Aistel, ruled by the Solis Royal family , with the Mana Creation Blessing which allowed users to create objects of pure mana that would pass through physical structures like armor.

 

To the south and east, on a peninsula is the human Kingdom of Canistrum, ruled by the Koir Royal Family with Demeter's Blessing,  which allowed manipulation of nature. Along with a climate most suited for agriculture in Aistel, it wouldn’t be wrong to call them the continent’s breadbasket. North leads to the Empire of Da’us Gelida ruled by the Glaciel Royal Family, who have the Blood Puppet Blessing, which gave users the ability to use their own blood to create puppets with infinite durability as long as the user was still alive. Although it was called an empire, it was nothing more than a large number of warring tribes united by a rather powerful ruler. Da’us Gelida was populated by elves and beastmen, but the Goddess hadn’t included which race the royal family was, or which was in the more dominant position. 

 

Finally, to the west was a land of Orcs, called the Fractured Lands as it had no current ruler. Linea assumed all those from whatever royal family was there, who had the Physical Enhancement Blessing, which provided improved strength, durability, and agility by running mana through the musculoskeletal system, were fighting it out for the top spot, and given it was officially called the Fractured Lands, they various contenders had probably been fighting for several generations. 

 

Actually…wait a second. The Goddess had mentioned that Aistel had become a very low priority for her. So, if there are Royal Family blessings that are passed down… then can the Goddess change people on a genetic level? Could she create new species by warping old ones? Orcs, elves, humans, beastmen, and dwarfs were all relatively similar in form… Linea shuddered and put an end to that thought. Let’s ignore that for now. His eyes drifted back to the book. 

 

All of this may sound like a bunch of very meaningless nonsense, but Linea had a very specific task. The Goddess had written, on the last page filled out in the book that she had provided, that she held him personally responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths and the significant decrease in standard of living for millions. With that she noted he had approximately 27.3 million negative karma, so 27.3 million years of punishment. She then added that as she took into account his difficult beginning in life and, and his unusually good skill with people, she was offering him an alternative, as she felt he could be of use to her. So his task, under the threat of incurring the full punishment if he failed, was to raise the standard of living and save lives in equal measure to restore his karmic balance to at least 0.  

 

An eye for an eye. Literally. For all the suffering his actions had caused, he would be paying it back... or forward. Makes sense, he thought bitterly. 27.3 million years. Fuck, wasn’t it only recently that people had discovered evidence that Earthly human civilization had existed for only 6 thousand years? 

 

Linea did some quick mental calculations. 4500 times. He could watch the rise of human civilization 4500 times while he was being punished. Fuck. 

 

With those kinds of numbers, he couldn’t go around helping people a hundred at a time. No, he needed scalability. The fastest way to help as many as possible would be through getting as much power as possible.

 

It was all but guaranteed for him to become Duke due to the fact he was the only child, but the scale at which he needed to operate was much larger. The entire population of a Dukedom was not enough. He needed to at the very least be king, and even then that may not be enough. He would likely need to start taking over neighboring territories to be able to influence enough people. He quickly flipped to the Royal Family chart in the book. There were 4 current members of the Royal Family: Alexandar, the current King; Derisa, the Queen; Alexander II, the Crown Prince and Aurora, the Princess. It seemed that most of the nobility backed Alexander II and his mother, while the King backed Aurora. Putting his curiosity aside as to why the King didn’t support the traditional line of succession, Linea knew it was good for him. There is certainly a way for me to claim the throne. 

 

He frowned and looked at the charts again. There were two obvious ways 1. Marry the Princess and kill the Prince, or 2. Lead the Civil War that was coming, win, and kill the King and at the same time have the Prince die heroically in the final action leaving him, as leader, the obvious replacement. Either way, the Prince had to die, if the Prince lived then Linea could not ascend the throne, or even if he did there would be a living Prince who would be able to rally supporters to start a second Civil War. 

 

He got out of the massive bed and briskly walked to the door. He paused at the ornate handles and took a breath to ready himself. Outside of this room were people. People from a different world. There would be things he had never seen before, spectacles he had never imagined, new races, even magic. He needed to maintain composure, else risk being accused of being an imposter, which would most likely lead to horrific consequences. Inhale.  Exhale. He was ready. He opened the door and…

 

Wow. Luxury he had never dreamt of waiting right outside. Chandeliers of pure gold hung from the ceiling, and instead of candles, they were lit by beautiful gemstones with a core of glowing flames. Distortions from the gemstone's edges cast dancing shadows. His room had opened up into a hallway that seemed to stretch endlessly in both directions. High, crystal clear windows were spaced at even intervals letting in sunlight. Dozens of maids were cleaning, dusting, and washing. The floor was extra luxurious tiling, with more floating flames warming them. “Ugh” Linea let out a groan and held his head. Sensory overload. Fuck. It was going to be a long day. _________________________________________________________________________

 

Current Time: Sometime Pass Noon

Location: Realvi City – Vitreal Ducal Seat 

 

From above, Realvi looked beautiful. Covering approximately 250 square kilometers, it looked like it could roughly hold a quarter million people. Each building was unique, with its own flair and design. Some were tall, others short, a few a lot larger than most, and some barely wide enough for a single cart to fit. Alleys were scattered about, seemingly at random. The streets bustled with activity, men and women scurrying along. A beautiful river cut through the very center. And the centerpiece of it all, a beautiful golden mansion that dwarfed everything nearby, at minimum 2 stories taller than the next tallest building around it. 

 

Linea was able to observe this himself directly, although getting to see how the common folk lived was harder than he thought. His first attempt just to walk out of the grounds on his own was thwarted when the guard captain and two dozen guards on horseback automatically fell into place around him while he was told to wait for the ducal carriage to be hitched and brought around.

 

The shock on everyone’s faces. It was as if someone bedridden for a few dozen years had suddenly decided to get up and have a stretch.

 

After a number of repeated discussions with the guard captain, the commander of all the guards, the head footman, the butler that seemed to go absolutely nowhere. Linea eventually put his foot down and declared that he was leaving, on foot, giving them, at most, 10 minutes to arrange whatever they wanted in the way of people to accompany him. He even tacked on a threat for good measure “If one of you even tries to stop me, the punishment will be severe”. He was persuaded to wait until after, what turned into a rather long late breakfast, and then be properly attired. Although that in itself caused further discussions as to what he should wear. So, it was about midday before he finally walked up the long driveway and out of the ducal palace, with only the guard captain and five guards, a pair in front and another pair behind back and the last on his left while the captain walked on his right.      

 

However, as Linea moved into the city proper, a few peculiarities made themselves obvious. Nearly every resident wore face covering attire, their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth were all completely shrouded. Everyone walked as close to the center of the street as they could, even delaying if that meant they avoided the sides. Nobody was very tall, he and his guards were a good head taller than just about everyone he saw. Finally, nobody talked. The reason for the first and second peculiarity was very obvious. There was human feces everywhere. Outside of restaurants, in front of homes, there was no place you could go where you could avoid the sight and stench of human excrement. Chamber pots were emptied out from windows and doors without the person making any effort to avoid splashing anyone passing by. 

 

The stench even cut through the face mask he wore, even with its air purifying enchantment. Now one might say, avoid the stench by just breathing through your mouth. He already tried that, finding out the hard way there was a reason why nobody talked the hard way. When he opened his mouth and took a breath to begin speaking, air rushed in and coated his tongue, the roof of his mouth, and his throat. Air that had due to the sudden strong intake of breath partly bypassed the purifying effect of his mask first and the natural filter of the human nose. Air that carried tangible particles of human shit and the acrid ammonia of stale urine. Human waste that had been baking in a noonday sun.  0.1 seconds after he began trying to speak, he realized his mistake. 0.5 seconds after opening his mouth, he registered the taste. 0.7 seconds after opening his mouth he could feel it in his throat. 1.2 seconds after he opened his mouth he could feel the contents of his stomach rampaging up his esophagus. He vomited on the side of the road, onto another pile of shit as tears of regret soaked into his purifying mask. All this as he contemplated the fact that tasting the vomit in his mouth was actually pleasant in comparison. He could feel the guards behind him fidget uncomfortably. 

 

As he walked, barely holding in the urge to vomit further, he noticed a few men in plague doctor suits, shoveling any solid waste into huge wagons. Two sickly looking horses stood in front of the wagon. Linea separated from the flow of the crowd and watched, naturally avoiding being under any window or building opening. He watched as they filled up the wagon, and one of them climbed up and began driving the cart. He tagged along a few paces behind. He followed as the men drove the wagon to the river. Already alarm bells were going off. Please don’t do what I think you’re about to do. He watched in abject horror as the man turned the rear of the cart towards the river, and just dumped it in. This was the same water he had seen people drinking. Linea was just disappointed.

 

He returned to the mansion completely exhausted and reeking of shit and piss. The maids said nothing as he stumbled into his room. A few maids came in with glowing blue jewels and he headed into the bath to watch them fill up the bath with them. After they had roughly filled up the bottom of the bath, one of them pulled out a book and began murmuring incoherently. He watched as strands of magic extended out from the book and over the jewels, cracking them open like eggs. They dissolved and water began filling up the tub. It was crystal clear which, as the thought came to him, made him feel a lot happier about the water he had drunk earlier. 

 

He needed to learn more of what should be common knowledge, he had no idea what anything cost. Linea stopped one of them and asked, “Hey, you, how much does 1 of these gems cost?” 

 

The maid, who had been content being ignored, flinched. She lowered her gaze and told Linea: “I… forgive me my Lord, I do not know.” He let out another sigh, this time gazing at the maid again. She was young, maybe 12 years old, with light brown hair and eyes and a smattering of freckles across her face. Wait… isn’t this the same maid who walked in on me?

 

The maid must have seen the recognition dawn in Linea’s eyes as she hid her face and tried to escape. “I-if you’ll excuse me, my Lord”. 

 

“Oy, I’m not done with you.” 

As the rest of the maids fled, she stopped and squeaked, “Eep”

 

“Eep? I-what-nevermind… Just get me something to write with.”

 

This got the girl’s attention. “My Lord, you can write?”

 

“Of course I can write. What, do I look like an idiot to you?”

You are reading story For the Sake of my Salvation, This World Will Become Mine at novel35.com

 

“I…no I didn’t mean it like, My Lord…  that it's just…” Her voice trailed off obscuring the words she was saying. Noticing Linea’s questioning look, she repeated herself slightly louder this time while staring at the ground, “Most nobility don’t …” 

 

Linea just stared at her, completely unfazed. “Well, I am decidedly not most nobility. Just get me something to write with, and make sure it’s erasable.” He waved her off. “Leave it besides my bed and tell the other maids not to touch anything.”

 

He was about to begin stripping off after all the maids had left when he realized a whole new batch of maids came in. They were far more attractive, with bigger chests and fairer skin. They began to take off Linea’s clothing for him. 

 

Now it’s important to note that Linea was not afraid of women, but the fact that all of them were dead silent as they worked without even a hint of an expression made him extraordinarily uncomfortable. He slapped off one of the maid’s hands as they began reaching for his undergarments. “Enough, leave. The lot of you. I can clean myself” he said gruffly. The maids, without a single change in expression bowed and left. 

 

Why was everything so tiring?

_______________________________________________________________________

 

Linea, his hair left undried, hanging over his face and obscuring his eyes, sat at a desk in his room twirling the feather quill between his fingers and gazing at the single line he had written at the very top left of the first blank page of the Goddess’s book. How much is a square meter of land in the capital? As he watched, a small number began to appear directly to the right of the question: 1 Cu 

He frowned. 

 

Does 1 Cu mean 1 Copper Coin?

Yes

 

What kind of currencies are used in the surrounding city?

Gold Bars

Gold Coins

Silver Coins

Copper Coins

 

What are the rates between these currencies?

1 Gold Bar (AUB) = 1000 Gold Coins

1 Gold Coin (AU)= 100 Silver Coins

1 Silver Coin (Ag)= 100 Copper Coins

 

What is the price of a single square meter of rural land?

3 Cu

 

What is the price of a single square meter of farmable land?

60 Cu

 

What is the land area of Realvi City?

267.67 km^2

 

What the actual hell? Farmland costs 60x more than city land?  Actually… After his tour of the city, it wasn’t hard to realize why city land was so cheap. Then… An evil grin split Linea’s face. “Ah ha ha ha. Eh, heh, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA” He threw his head back and began to laugh out loud. Finally, I caught a break. The perfect plan was beginning to take shape in his mind. Before that though…

 

What is the most efficient way to kill the Duke and seize power through force?

You do not have the authority to ask this question. 

Requirement: Goddess’s Executioner: S rank

 

What repercussions will I face if I kill the Duke and seize power through force?

    Requirement: Goddess’s Executioner: A+ rank

 

Can I kill the Duke and seize power and survive?

    Goddess Override… Please Wait

 

Linea frowned. None of the questions regarding the Duke seemed to be successful, even the simple one that should be within his rank. Did she lie when she said she would answer his questions? No, this book might be directly connected to her intelligence in some way. Linea scoffed. Who am I to try and rationalize a supernatural being? It’s best if I just don’t question it. He waited for a few minutes and the frown on his face deepened. Just as he was about to close the book and relax on his bed, a knock sounded from the door. “My Lord, the Duke would like to speak to you.” 

 

Hmmmm? Linea quickly glanced back at his last question.

 

Can I kill the Duke and seize power and survive?

    Answer the Door

 

It seemed the wait was over. An evil grin split Linea’s face. Interesting. How interesting. 

You can find story with these keywords: For the Sake of my Salvation, This World Will Become Mine, Read For the Sake of my Salvation, This World Will Become Mine, For the Sake of my Salvation, This World Will Become Mine novel, For the Sake of my Salvation, This World Will Become Mine book, For the Sake of my Salvation, This World Will Become Mine story, For the Sake of my Salvation, This World Will Become Mine full, For the Sake of my Salvation, This World Will Become Mine Latest Chapter