Husanda felt as if that thing in his hands was a boiling hot rock. He almost threw the Bag of Holding away as if it were a snake, but he managed to rein everything in at the last moment and keep up what little composure he could.
With trembling hands that clutched onto the poor Bag of Holding like a lifeline, he gazed at Darius with a smile that looked crooked. "S-Sir, this is your d-down payment t-then?"
His voice cracked like a young boy undergoing puberty, making Husanda feel slightly ashamed, but the stoic non-caring expression on Gunner's face as well as the understanding expression in Xela's face soothed him.
Most importantly, Darius nodded lightly and waved him off. "Go Husanda, fulfill my order quickly."
Husanda's back straightened as he bolted out without acknowledging Darius's words, planning to use whatever authority he had to make this order happen.
He was not so stupid to go and report upwards, as someone higher would kick him out of the entire transaction then claim the benefits and fame for themselves.
Darius and his two Branded Servants only had to wait a shocking five minutes before Husanda had returned, slightly bruised and with blood on various parts of his body that was not exactly his.
Xela was alarmed, whereas Gunner merely raised an eyebrow. Meanwhile, Darius rubbed his chin with interest, understanding one or two things.
Husanda clapped his hands, and various servants brought in huge chests filled with neatly packed ores.
Darius laughed and advised. "No need to work up such a sweat. Here are some Bags of Holding for your servants to fill up my goods."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtWith that, Darius dropped around 200 Bags of Holding that had been sitting in his Inventory, empty and waiting for use. This stunned all those who were filing into this small private room, until Husanda cleared his throat loudly, awakening them from their stupor.
"Get to work! Time waits for no man, and your bonus doesn't either!"
Remembering the reward that Husanda had promised them for this undertaking, the servants became even more hardworking and in a matter of minutes slotted everything into the Bags of Holding categorically without mixing them up.
Husanda then placed them all into three chests than presented them to Darius. "Here you are, my Lord. 300 tons of High Iron, 340 tons of Oricalchum, 456 tons of Mithril, 120 tons of Elementium, 500 tons of Thunder Copper, 23 tons of Blood Metal, 2300 tons of Corundum…"
Darius listened dutifully and nodded his head. Some ores were rarer than others, so it was natural that their presence here was lacking. When Husanda was done listing the amounts, Darius was thoroughly satisfied.
"So, how much do I need to add on top of my previous deposit?" He asked while gazing at Husanda in the eyes.
Not daring to deceive this powerful and wealthy customer who could potentially become his backer if he handled things right, Husanda reported truthfully. "The total is 409 million Dius. Deducting your 50 million deposit, the balance is 359 million Dius."
Darius nodded and removed another Bag of Holding then placed the requisite amount of Dius inside. He then sent it over to Husanda who received it and checked dutifully before nodding obsequiously to his new all-time favorite customer.
"Thank you for your patronage, my Lord! If ever you pass by, make sure to give our Likivo Family Group a visit and look for me, I will drop everything to accommodate you properly!"
Darius merely gave him a smile but did not reply, which disappointed Husanda. Before he could offer to escort him out, Darius waved his hand and the three chests disappeared to where, Husanda did not know.
Then Darius snapped his finger and the trio, who had exuded a powerful presence merely by sitting there, disappeared in a yellow light, making all those within the private room gasp as if they had finally left a high altitude area into a low one.
They had not even noticed that they were passively being suppressed, which was why greed towards their customers had not entered their minds. This naturally did not come from Darius as he had perfect control over his power, nor Xela who didn't like oppressing others without need.
It was from Gunner, who had been calmly seated the whole time. He had used it to warn those weaklings that should they have the wrong thought, he would use one punch to turn them and their entire family into dust.
Now that they were gone, Husanda sighed, then felt the excitement course through him. Now that this transaction had been done successfully, it was time to report it up and claim the benefits that would ensure his bright future within the family.
......…
Darius and his two Branded Servants re-appeared in a select part of Ludo, near the first large mine he planned to use for Miranda's growth. He then activated the Portal house, which grew in all its suburban glory.
Seeing their home away from home again, Gunner and Xela smiled. They rushed in to bathe and get comfortable enough to watch their shows, while Darius chuckled and entered the lab he had attached to the building.
He watched as the room came to life as Miranda directly took over the facilities and activated them. Darius took out the chest with the Bags of Holding that held all the ores and left them near the hands and tools of the robot that Miranda would use to work on them.
Knowing that this next bit might take some time, he retreated from the lab and decided to head to his room to continue working on the new element pathway.
As for the money he used to pay for the metals, it was at the back of his mind. It wasn't something he transmuted nor wealth he had physically earned, but wealth that Safemoon had earned for him.
1 Supreme Coin was worth 100 Dius, and during just the auction alone, there had been items that had sold for millions of Supreme Coins and it was more than one batch. 1 million Supreme Coins was 100 million Dius, so you could imagine.
As the items sold there were made by Darius through Transmutation, there was no cost involved in their production (apart from CP, but then again, CP was given to him daily for free) which was why Safemoon's economy was so saturated that it was still digesting earnings up until now.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmDarius had "unlimited" Supreme Coins, he just 'exchanged' them with the city before he left, which gave him a good amount of Dius to use for any situation. His wealth right now was far beyond anything he had on Earth, not even a hundred lifetimes would be enough to spend it all.
Unfortunately, despite the sheer power of the Supreme Coins, its utility and supremacy was only present within Safemoon. To extend it over the world to fully take over the Dius, he would need to have every single citizen wear a HoloBrace as that was what was required to collect and use Supreme Coins in the first place as it was a fully digital currency.
Once Miranda launched her satellites, coverage of the entire Faust in their network wouldn't be a problem. Rather, the hard part would be spreading his HoloBraces throughout the world.
While the people might not exactly be averse to it, those in power would never let their authority be subtly usurped.
Still, that was a consideration for later.
Right now, Darius was soaking in a bath while sipping on wine. Ever since the Insect Eradication Quest had started, he had either been thinking hard about his next step or taking measures that would ensure his success.
Not to mention the amount of time he had spent in the underground world killing Insects, a place which naturally smelled like shit and rot. After all, their race wasn't one that Insects particularly cared about the smell.
Since he was naturally in a period of minor relaxation, he could afford to treat himself well. Gunner and Xela were doing something similar to this end. They couldn't relax too much in the Divine Oasis because it didn't have much in the way of facilities.
After chilling without any cause for worry for a few hours, Darius settled into his bedroom and cast a Journeyman spell of the Sound element to isolate any noise from the outside so he could focus.
Even if they were going to be attacked - which his Spiritual Senses gave no indication of - Gunner and Xela were more than enough to handle it.
Soon, Darius was fully immersed in the world of the magical network that ran through his - and everyone else's - body. Of course, different places had different names for it.
The Immortals of Pan called it the meridian network, the Ninja and Samurai of Houto called it the Chakra network, and so on.. The base utility of these networks was the same, push energy through to activate unique skills, spells, or techniques that wielded power beyond what the average human could perform.