Chapter 270: Woes Of Being A Lord

The next morning, the first thing Uhtred attended to were the duties that fell out of Dennis’ jurisdiction to handle — matters that required his personal sign-off, like the final say on major trade deals, intelligence reports, and strategic moves from other factions like the Free Ascenders’ Guild and, most especially, the New World Government.

The situation with these major factions was always changing. Even though Uhtred had come to an agreement with most of them, each group was still aggressively pursuing their own interests behind the scenes.

A prime example of this was the recent report regarding the search for a regional dungeon in Zone 2.

Despite months of intense scouting, no one had managed to locate one yet. Every faction, even those allied with Capitol of The Elite, could see just how much power and leverage Uhtred, Jolene Okafor, and Golden Finger Chen enjoyed simply from holding the regional dungeons within Zone 1.

Together, they controlled all trade of Inert Essence Crystals. Not only that, but they could freely use those Crystals to further the growth of their own forces much faster than every other faction.

Because of that, a desperate race had broken out to find the regional dungeons within Zone before anyone else could lay claim to them.

However, that search had proven to be far more difficult than expected. It was either that the regional dungeons within Zone 2 were deliberately hidden much deeper by the System, or they were simply far scarcer in number. Either way, the sheer difficulty in locating them had put every major faction on edge. Everyone was watching everyone else very closely, listening for the slightest rumor or leak.

They all knew that, considering how hard they were to find, any regional dungeon in Zone 2 was going to be leagues ahead of the ones in Zone 1. And whoever controlled it would immediately be placed in a position of immense power and leverage.

Of all the factions scouring Zone 2, the New World Government was putting in the most effort. In fact, one could say they were getting way too excited and fidgety.

In the report Uhtred was currently reviewing, a scouting team belonging to the Capitol of The Elite had actually managed to locate a new dungeon within Zone 2. But before they could even get a chance to investigate it properly, they had been ambushed by a team of "unknown" ascenders.

Needless to say, subsequent investigations quickly tied those "unknown" ascenders directly to the New World Government.

In a normal scenario, Dennis was more than capable of handling the aftermath. The New World Government would have simply been fleeced of a heavy chunk of resources and rare materials to sweep the attack under the rug and maintain the peace.

However, perhaps because Uhtred hadn’t been present on Earth at the time, the New World Government diplomats and agents had been unusually stiff and stubborn in their negotiations with Dennis.

They hadn’t offered anywhere near the level of compensation they usually would have for being caught red-handed in such an act.

Now that Uhtred was back, however, their attitude had magically become much more pliable. They had sent a generous negotiation offer, one that was actually very reasonable...

But Uhtred wasn’t about to let them off so easily.

"Sheesh, boss. Are you sure they’ll be able to cough this up?" Dennis sucked in a breath as he read through Uhtred’s revised list of demands attached to the report.

Uhtred looked up from the next document he was already scanning, looking confused for a second before he caught sight of the paper in Dennis’ hands.

"Ah, that?" Uhtred snorted, leaning back in his chair. "They thought they could play smart while I was away, so I need to punish them a bit. That way, they know not to try and bully you in my absence."

"Dennis? Being bullied?" Minh Quan, who was pre-reading the next set of documents with Diya beside him, scoffed without looking up. "Boss, I think Dennis is just trying to maintain the hierarchy of things with you. This guy is ruthless. You should hear what those World Government agents and Free Ascenders’ Guild representatives call him behind his back when they come here to negotiate..."

"Oh?" Uhtred raised a brow and looked at Dennis again.

The middle-aged scholar simply scratched the side of his face lightly, wearing an innocent expression.

"Money-grubbing Demon!" Minh Quan said, laughing loudly. "That’s what they call him. He gives them a little leeway over here just to take everything from their blind spot over there. You might step out of the room thinking you got the better deal, but in the end you’ll find out you were simply dancing in the palm of his hand the entire time. No matter what, he always finds a way to fleece an even greater benefit out of you!"

"I even think that’s why these New World Government guys were being so stiff. He’s fleeced them so many times, they can’t help but try to make things hard for him this time!"

"Is that right, Dennis?" Uhtred chuckled, an amused glint in his eyes.

Dennis cleared his throat, looking slightly uncomfortable with the sudden spotlight. "It’s really nothing that dramatic, boss. It’s just the natural benefit of my class..."

Ah, right. Insight Adept. Uhtred nodded to himself, musing internally.

He didn’t say anything else, simply offering a light smile before returning his focus to the file in his hands.

However, his mind was now slightly divided between the text on the page and what Minh Quan had just pointed out — that Dennis was just maintaining the proper hierarchy of things, and that otherwise, he could just handle all of these high-level reports on his own without bothering him.

As Uhtred mulled over that statement, for a brief second, he actually considered giving Dennis full authority over everything.

The lazy part of his mind that absolutely hated dealing with pesky work wanted nothing more than to dump the entire pile onto Dennis’ shoulders once and for all.

However, that thought didn’t even last a moment before he firmly killed it.

Aside from the fact that this "pesky work" was something he could easily clear through in just a few hours, there was also the crucial fact that the hierarchy truly needed to be respected.

At the end of the day, Uhtred was the undisputed Lord of this territory. The world was no longer the old, bureaucratic place where multiple committees and government branches had to share authority over a region.

Here, in this new System-integrated world, the System recognized Capitol of The Elite as his personal domain and his alone. Not even Zara — the second most powerful human on the planet and one of his core crew members — had a claim to Capitol of The Elite in the slightest.

Uhtred could rule and run his territory however he saw fit, with absolute authority.

He could, if he chose to, completely abandon the paperwork, wash his hands of the administrative side, and leave the day-to-day operations entirely up to Dennis.

He could do that... but there was no way he would.

This wasn’t even a matter of trusting Dennis or not. The issue was that Uhtred simply couldn’t afford to stay ignorant of what was happening within his own borders.

Even the smallest, seemingly trivial details could eventually give rise to massive problems if left unchecked.

To trust someone was one thing, but blind, absolute trust was just pure foolishness. History had proven time and time again that even the greatest empires with impenetrable walls usually collapsed from the internal rot that started small and unobserved.

Uhtred needed to have a clear picture of everything happening across his territory. That was the only way to spot the first signs of rot before they ever had the chance to take root and grow.

Dennis tacitly understood this fact too. And his act of leaving these core decisions to Uhtred was his way of showing his allegiance and loyalty.

After the short exchange, an easy, comfortable silence settled over the meeting room once more.

Uhtred resumed flipping through the remaining reports. He worked through them quickly, signing off on resource allocations, squad deployments, and some trade deals, until finally, right around noon, he was done with all the reports.

"Alright!" Uhtred clapped his hands together and stood up eagerly from his chair, his eyes locking onto Diya. "I’m finally done with these damned duties. Now, how about that healing magic training, huh?"