"Um, Halt-sama? We've received a request from His Majesty to build the venue for the Ultimate Clan Battle... but the scale of it is just unbelievably huge."
True to his declaration to Cain, Gil had formally commissioned H&T Trading Company to build the venue. Tina, who was stressed out after seeing the details of the request, had returned to the mansion and was now consulting with Halt.
"Hmm. Let see?"
Halt looked over the paper where Tina had jotted down the request details.
"...Eh, for real? What’s up with this, it’s way too massive. It's so big that Hakua or Youko could go wild in their true forms here. Which ans – oh, don't tell ..."
Halt started to form a certain prediction, and his honed intuition imdiately confird it was 'correct.'
"Tina! Let's take the job!"
"Eh? Are you serious? Where are we even supposed to build sothing this huge? Not only that, this will be the main venue of the Ultimate Clan Battle. Visitors will be coming from other countries, so we can't build it too far from the royal capital or the port."
It was as Tina said. This project had location restrictions. It needed to be close to the capital or the port city, but there weren't any plains in those areas large enough to et the required size. That was the biggest problem.
"You're not thinking of building an entire town around it, like how it was done with the plaza in front of the dungeon ruins, are you?"
"Nah, no need for that. Well, we do have a whole month, so we could build a whole city if we wanted. Anyway, I'm thinking of building the venue in the Cleria Plains."
In Halt's mind, one month was more than enough ti to build not just a town for a few hundred people, but an entire city for thousands, even tens of thousands.
"The Cleria Plains… I see, it's certainly big enough. And since it's not a strategic location, getting construction permission should be easy. But then, what about transportation?"
The Cleria Plains were located in the southwestern part of the Glendale Kingdom, far from the sea and surrounded by mountains on all sides. It was also a long way from the central Royal Capital.
"I thought a bit about laying railway tracks for the country's future developnt, but you know what? Let's just install a 'Portal' instead."
"A portal?"
"Yep. Anyway, don't worry about the transportation, I'll handle it. Tina, can you go confirm with His Majesty if it's okay to develop the Cleria Plains? I've got a bunch of prep to do, so I'll leave the rest to you!"
With that, Halt teleported away.
──＊＊＊──
Tina was about to ask him her questions, but he didn’t respond, so she decided to follow his instructions and went to see Gil.
"The Cleria Plains, you say? It's certainly vast enough for the venue size I requested... But what about access? Tens of thousands of people will be coming from other nations. I know I'm the one who made this unreasonable request, but even so, the Cleria Plains is just impossible."
anwhile, Cain, with his super-intuition skill, seed to have grasped Halt's intention and was smirking.
"Your Majesty, let's leave it to Halt and let him do things his way. That guy's ideas will surely amaze even the royalty from other countries. It's a perfect opportunity to show off our kingdom's magical engineering prowess."
"You figured out what he's planning, didn't you!? That's not fair! Explain it to too."
"I have no proof, but if it's Halt, he'll pull it off. Moreover, wouldn't you enjoy seeing the real thing more than hearing about it from ? So please, trust my little brother."
"...Alright. If you put it that way. I'll look forward to it then."
"So, that ans...?" Tina interjected.
"Yeah. I'll grant Halt's wish. Permission to develop the Cleria Plains is granted. Cain, who holds the land rights for that area?"
"Due to the poor transportation, no one lives there. It's also far from any ley lines, so there are few monsters. Even adventurers avoid the place. It's technically our kingdom's territory, but it's ungoverned. The land deed should be sowhere in this castle."
"Good. Then go find it and bring it here. I want to confirm it."
"As you wish."
Once Cain had left, Gil turned back to Tina.
"Alright then. With Halt on the move, I'm sure it'll work out. So, what would you like in return? I did make a pretty outrageous request, so the paynt will be generous. Don't hold back."
"Even if you say that, it's difficult for to decide on my own..."
"Even if you ask Halt, he won't ask for much. That guy can get pretty much anything he wants by himself. So how about this? Why not state a wish that would help expand H&T Trading Company further?"
Gil had gained various national benefits through Halt's power, but Halt himself had rarely asked for anything in return. Feeling that he could never fully repay the debt, Gil Glendale was trying to make up for it, even a little, by granting Tina's wish.
"...Are you really sure?"
"Of course. Anything is fine."
"Then, after the Ultimate Clan Battle is over, we would like H&T Trading Company to manage the Cleria Plains, the area we will be developing."
"Oh? Why's that?"
"This is the intuition of a rchant with a hundred years of experience. Right now, the Cleria Plains are worthless, a place not even adventurers approach. But after Halt-sama develops it, it will be transford into a place that generates imnse wealth."
"My extre intuition is saying the sa thing, Your Majesty. This is going to beco incredibly valuable in the future."
Cain returned to the king's office. He held a single piece of paper in his hand.
"I see. Then we shall hand it over to Halt."
Without a mont's hesitation, Gil took the deed for the vast tract of land, including the Cleria Plains, from Cain and handed it directly to Tina.
"The venue construction is in your hands."
"Understood. We will do our utmost to et your expectations."
Gil's expression was bright, pleased at the thought of having finally repaid a little of his debt to Halt. On the other hand, Cain wore a slightly complicated expression, having just realized that the kingdom had easily let go of what was destined to beco an enormous source of profit.
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