Two lines of maids were waiting for the guest. Lady Catherine was standing at the center and her personal maid, the daughter of an earl stood beside her. They all sudden shiver as soon as the man appeared. He was wearing red dress than his usual white dress. There was a reason why people preferred attributes not related to darkness, killing and curses as they make the people of lower strength fear.
Dominic got down from his horse and smiled at Lady Catherine. Lady Catherine nodded slightly and said, "Welcome Lord Dominic. I am happy that you have accepted my offer."
Dominic smiled much more than usual. He spoke in a clear manner without using any of his attribute in his voice, which was his usual manner of speaking. He spoke, "I had heard of your interest in food and research results related to it. If anyone is worthy of the essence food, it is you who knows how to use mana for cooking."
Catherine chuckled and said, "Please come inside. The dinner is ready."
Dominic nodded. He came forward and removed his coat and gave it to the maid by his side. He looked at his horse and pointed towards the direction and it moved to the where magical pets were assigned to stay
The dining table was big and the amount of food in it was enough to feed 10 knights or 1000 people. But for a lord, it was not much as they can digest any food instantly into nothingness. There is a reason why mages do not eat food as eating mana crystals were better. Those eating food would also destroy the total amount of matter in this world. But no mages care as they just live for themselves.
So when Dominic saw food and he could logically think that it was right for him to teat food now so as to be in line with social etiquette, he happily ate food.
Catherine ate food in small chunks. She smiled as she Dominic eat the food happily. She asked, "How much essence food such as mana rice and other mana food are you willing to give to me?"
Dominic smiled and said, "As much as you want? It will be useless for you to be a middleman as my food would be sold for lower cost. But I believe that you would use such essence food to make some good food."
Catherine nodded and said, "That is true. Are you sure to not choose the order of griffin? They are the best at fighting aerial warfare."
"They are nothing against dragons."
"But an army would help. Every dragon has his own corrupted army of monsters. There is a reason why there are monsters among non-intelligent races other than ordinary animals, spirit beasts and divine beasts."
"That is true, I hate them. They are not animals who reproduce with each other and are not like spirit beasts or divine beasts as they who do not need to eat. They are the biggest enemies of humanity. If not for the fact that dragons are not the only race that could create monsters, I might have signed the deal with the unicorn then."
Catherine looked up from plate. She asked, "Why are you set too much on human supremacy? There are some good ones such as the unicorns with whom signing the contract would allow anyone to reach 5-star strength with the sacred and light attributes. Elves are really much prettier than humanity and many nobles likes to take such elf concubines."
Dominic raised his brows in doubt. Wasn't the answer clear? He smiled and said, "Humanity is weak enough that only be following the principle of human supremacy can humanity survive. We cannot corrupt our bloodline with those of dragons like the Welsh. There is a reason why I have funded the campaign against them and I called on my favors to remove the status of humanity for the Welsh. We are not strong enough to keep many subordinate races as we cannot ensure that we will always remain strong like the elves. As for elves, when I had destroyed the Slahthar village, I had a lot of elf women in my side I had bought all the men that were to be executed as per the law and gave them a final mission to try to impregnate those entire elves. I had created an elf camp but even after 6 months, no single elf could be impregnated by an elf. But the fact remains that an elf male can impregnate a female human. They should be exterminated."
Catherine had stopped eating. She took a glass of water and drank it. Her hand was shaking as for her, there was no much difference between human female and elf female. She could only smile and speak, "That is good. Why can elf males impregnate female human" She nearly slapped herself when she stopped midway and used her long sleeves to wipe her head. She should not have asked that foolish questions.
Dominic got slightly irritated at the question. He spoke, "Among thousands of couples, there is a slight chance that a male elf can impregnate a female human. The genes do not match. It is just that mysteries of the elves are strong enough to overcome the genetic problem to impregnate one. Either he should be an archmage as they can overcome such genetic troubles or they should have extreme intention. You might not know what 'intent' is, it is what makes a knight a swords master. That intent is known as sword intent which was the intent to use sword. They should have the extreme intent to impregnate another person. I hope you stay true to humanity."
Catherine smiled and said, "I am true to humanity. The laws of the empire does not allow otherwise."
She used her ring to convey a telepathic message to her head butler, "Hide from Dominic the white. Also hide those slaves. He hates anything that is not human and can talk."
Dominic smiled as he tasted the special roasted meat of the orcs. It was hard to get such meat as each orc had the extreme attribute of regeneration, rebirth and reproduction. A mage has to cut off the meat and then wash away the meat using attributes. It was only then the meat can be used. The very fact that a mage is working on the production made the prices go high. If not, anyone other eating the meat will be corrupted and their bodies will grow into another orc.
Catherine smiled and said, "If you like orc meat, I can send you an orc if you plan to harvest your own orc meat."
Dominic nodded and then said, "If not for the problem of corruption, it would have been good enough to let all humanity eat more than enough meat."
Catherine shook her head and said, "You cannot expect the mages to keep washing the meat for the commoner, right? It is hard to find enough meat for the knights who need such high nutrition."
Dominic shook his head. Even if he enslaved the orc, the orc meat would still corrupt anyone else unless I order them to expand more to harvest meat and the intent in the meat should erase all attributes. He planned to experiment with such things. He smiled and said, "Send me a few orcs."
Catherine nodded and said, "Sure."
They both ate in some time in silence before Catherine spoke, "Have you heard of the fairy tears and mother-fruit of elves. Both of them are highest calorie food with high level energy. Although they are not at the precision level of essence energy, they are strong enough to feed knights. Even the commoners can eat it and we do have reports which state that commoners who are fed with high energy have higher possibility of giving birth to knights and knights fed with enough energy have higher chance of giving birth to mages."
"So?"
"Although we do not have such food, we have been experimenting for decades for making an artificial kind of product that can be produced cheaply and can ensure that at least the knights and the rich commoners can be fed enough."
Dominic thought for some time. It was indeed good enough for humanity but this will change the social pattern. The reason why commoners bow to lords is because they cannot survive outside the walls. The lords and his army protect the commoners. But that is not the case for the knights as they can survive outside the walls. The only reason why they stay under the lords is because the mages can cleanse most energy food that will corrupt the knights without attributes. That was why they knelt and swore their loyalty to the lords.
So he asked, "What about the relation between knights and lords?"
"There are many among nobles who are without attributes. They walk on the path of body forging. They have many mages under them. This will reduce the dependence of those who do not have attribute on those who have."
Dominic nodded and said, "True. What is it made off?"
"The food is called biscuit. We have made it using barley and other grain. We need to refine 10 tons of grain to refine a single piece of biscuit that has such high amount of calories in chemical form and mana added during refining. We have found that while using the essence wheat and essence barley sold by you, we are able to nearly essence level biscuit. So we hope that you sell such essence wheat and barley to the Roman empire only and let us make biscuits."
Dominic said, "I have more than enough food in my hand. You can buy as much food as you want to make ordinary biscuits useful for knights. But for essence level food, you can preorder and I shall have it made for you."
The corrupted plans would grow up 170 times faster and would produce 170 times the products before dying. This had allowed him to get a lot of food. Such plants could produce essence level food as his intent level was high but he had asked them to produce ordinary food.
One thing he knows is that it is precious things should be rare. He does not plan to effectively strengthen humanity by spreading high quality essence food for lower costs. He will surely do it when he becomes the sole ruler above humanity. So, he shall not sell such essence food for less gold.
Catherine nodded. It was better in that manner. She smiled and said, "The company under you is providing high quality food even though it does not contain any trace of mana. But it is indeed available in large amounts. The market would have been affected if not for me and other lords to buy it in bulk to make biscuits."
"I never thought that rice could be used to make biscuits."
"Any food can be refined using mana to be made into biscuits. Even the orc meat can be refines into biscuits. But we are going on the mass production path so orc meat is not a good raw material for us."
Dominic nodded. He poured himself a glass of sparkling wine and drank it. Catherine asked, "When are you going to take revenge on that queen?"
Dominic stopped drinking the wine midway and put it on the table. He smiled and said, "After taking care of the dragon and after getting the title of the king, I shall cut off my name from the contract of that nation. That will reduce their luck as my strength and reputation had added to the luck of the nation. I will use my power and status to add trade barriers on that nation. I will use my status and connection with other nations as I have participated in a lot of coalition battles against monsters to remove that nation from the united human coalition. I will give then an offer they cannot forget. I will drive away all the races that cannot be exterminated on battle towards that nation. I will use my power to cover them in a one-sided barrier. I will use the bloodline-destruction spell on all of the nobles there. Then I will leave them alone and visit them every now and then."
Catherine drank a glass of wine. She sighed as she was sure that this man was indeed cruel. It did not matter to her if he was cruel as she was cruel. But they were not cruel to other nobles. This man had no such limits. After calming down, she indeed saw an opportunity. So she asked, "Do you want to add me to your revenge?"
"It will not help you."
Catherine looked at Dominic in doubt. Dominic stared straight. She understood that this man was really asking what she would gain and was not asking sarcastically. She stood up in excitement and walked while speaking, "Rather than destroying their bloodline, you can simply extract their bloodline which will indeed work as if their bloodline is destroyed. Every one of the bloodline crystal can be sold for millions of gold as nobles cannot be attacked even after defeating them in war. But you can as long as you declare your actions as revenge and internal civil strife after you exit that kingdom. The men chosen can be made into mind puppets and can be sold to the Eastern academy of the Bellostria. The women can be sold to any nation as many of the commoners are indeed single as women seek luxury. Even the married men prefer to buy another female slave that can give birth and can be used as a slave. No such slave can live properly. You can even sell the nobles as premium products to the rich ones who had just risen and has a kind of hatred towards us nobles. You can leverage control over the entire kingdom by blocking and controlling their economy such as increasing the price of necessary food. You can make them work in harsh conditions such as the mana crystal mines, paying them the bare minimum enough to just feed them. You can even make this nation a tourist place just like Sodom and Gomorrah so that those who want some enjoyment can go there and pay a small amount of money to sleep with the women there in front of their husbands. You can even open a human coliseum, letting them give away their life for some small amount of food. Every one of your actions should be announced to them and to the world so that those suffering should know why they are suffering. You can even start a national sacrifice ceremony such as sacrificing a man from every thousand humans every year in random and feeding their cooked remains to the remaining alive. They will live with fear all their lives and die in fear."
Dominic smiled happily. He had wanted such a thing but he could not say such a detailed plan. He smiled and asked, "I indeed do like such a thing my lady. Are you sure that the Greeks and Egyptians will not attack us politically for this action."
Catherine shook her head and said, "No. there are similar cases such as in the country of Sodom and Gomorrah. They were made to suffer in similar manner. If you had been just sent off, you could only attack your dukedom and the royal family. But you can raise the problem such that you who had worked hard for the nation were thrown out by the outrageous queen who opened her legs to a half-breed who had slaughtered humans, and no one in the nation had stopped her or asked for help. Since 3 months had passed since then, it is enough time for the nobles to ask for help. They are only the nobles of the nation as by the all-human definition of nobles, they should be strong enough to kill millions within a month, should have fought against external races and slaughter 50,000 of other races or should have made enough achievements in economic or social manner. Not all those who consider themselves nobles can enter the council of nobles. How many in that nation can fulfill the basic condition of an all-human noble."
Dominic nodded. He had not thought in that manner. He smiled and said, "I will take action against them after I am made the king. They need to suffer. What would you need if you are going to act with me?"
Catherine came by his side and sat on the chair nearest to him. She bent forward thinking about the future prospect. A whole nation of tens of millions when under control can be used to make more than enough money. She neared to him and asked in a near pleading manner with her eyes showing a slight glint. Although she had heard that straight men do not like women showing innocence and weakness, she knew better. She knew men really liked such things even when they spoke against it. So she asked in a sweet manner, "Will you give me the right to sell of any commoner, knight or noble from that nation as a slave? I have a slave company under me extending towards the continents. I will give you a share of profits."
Dominic gulped slightly as he had not been near any women. Most who wanted to approach him would be scared away by him deliberately. But this woman let go of all of that and approached him. He looked at his wine at the other side from the lady and said. "Sure. Be ready by then. We will talk about the details of the slave trade then."
She smiled slyly. She stood up and came near him and approached his ear and said, "Do you want to eat me Dominic the white. I heard that you enter the battlefield donned in white without armor and slay all using your sword. Yet at the end you will be donned in white without a speck of dust or blood."
Dominic dare not move his head as she was near him. But he suddenly felt something. He pushed her away in a gentle manner with a look of disgust. He sighed, as, if she was a virgin, he would have accepted her advances. If he sleeps with a woman, she shall only be his and she shall be with none in the future. If so, she should have been with none in the past. This was about his pride and creed. So he smiled and spoke in a straightforward manner as he no longer had any attraction to her who smelled of beastmen and elves.
Catherine sighed as she sat at the third chair away from Dominic. She had lived long enough to see the look on his face. Being a mage had ensured that her 60 year old body looked 25. She had never hidden her affairs as she could live for 500 years as she was a mage. Love could not last that long and many of the men she had approached had shown that look. She sighed in sadness thinking about how she had lost the chance to be the concubine to the emperor as she had her trysts with her lover then. Though the concubines could sleep with others after marriage, she had to be chaste before marriage and could only have trysts after she gives birth to emperor's descendants as per the contract and takes the permanent contraceptive potion. She understood such men who would sleep with multiple women and would find it more interesting in stealing the wives of others who had given birth to more than one. But when she had approached the very men when she found them good, they had looked at her with very same look of disgust and kept her away. She understood it but it still ached her heart.
She put it behind her as she had suffered more than once and now it was nothing more than a small prick to her finger. She had money and she liked money. She had her fair number of male slaves. That was all what she needed but she needed money to buy more interesting playthings. So she could not give up this chance and she planned to make a more concrete relation with this man. She thought of her grandniece, a pretty lady known for her gentleness. She planned to call her to her side to let her be the one involved in this business. As for now, she needed a verbal promise.
So she asked in a serious manner now, "Do we have a deal Lord Dominic?"
Dominic smiled and said, "Yes. You can take care of the slaves. I will give you a list of nobles and I want them to suffer. Sell them to someone who is a sadist."
She smiled and nodded. Dominic smiled too. They had a good conversation while eating food and after confirming the needs of the contract, they signed a contract and he left.