Chapter 258: Estate Development (Bonus)
Oswald then slid the next document forward.
"This is the registration document for the land itself." He paused briefly. "Two thousand five hundred acres."
On a normal day, acquiring that volume of land would have been a significant and painful expense.
But thanks to this arrangement with the King, it was in front of Ethan as a completed transfer, waiting only for his confirmation.
"The King’s seal is already in place," Oswald said.
Ethan signed again. After that, he set the pen down and looked up. "Do you have the full land plan?"
"Yes. All details have been completed." Oswald answered.
Ethan nodded.
Oswald then began gathering his things and rising from his seat. "Who do I leave the originals with?."
Ethan gestured toward Valerie. "Hand them to her."
Oswald complied, passing the documents across.
Ethan turned slightly. "Valerie, make copies immediately after this meeting. Then coordinate with Oswald to have them sent to him."
"Yes, Master Ethan," she said, already reaching for them.
Oswald gave a respectful bow. "Mr. Ethan." Then he turned slightly. "Mr. Eduardo."
With that, he exited the room.
A notification appeared in Ethan’s vision.
[Self-Imposed Objective Complete: Formalize Land Acquisition — +6,000 XP]
[Experience Points Balance: 211,000]
He dismissed it with a thought, and after a brief moment of silence, Ethan’s leaned back in his seat and moved his gaze across the table.
"Now. We may begin."
One of the estate developers, the human, rose slightly from his seat and slid a large rolled sheet across the polished surface of the table.
"With your permission, Mr. Stark."
Ethan gestured. "Go on."
Mr Chang unrolled it carefully, revealing a wide, detailed plan that stretched across nearly half the table.
It had zones, structures, pathways and elevation markings, with every section labeled.
"This," Mr Chang began, placing a hand over the center of the sheet, "is the proposed master plan for the estate."
Ethan leaned forward, going through the landsheet.
"We’ve taken into account the full span of the two thousand five hundred acres," the man continued. "And this is how we’ve separated the sectors"
He tapped a certain marked section. "This region here is designated for heavy industrial development. "
"we can say its a primary construction facility for your for your Aircrafts and—" he glanced briefly at his notes, "—any further mechanical initiative."
"Mechas," Ethan said.
The man nodded quickly. "Yes. That as well."
He moved his hand across the sheet.
"This part here is reserved for storage most. Hangars for the airplanes, docking bays for airships, and reinforced containment structures for experimental builds."
Valerie had already begun noting things down, just as the elf beside the speaker did. Their duty was to capture every adjustment and clarification as it came.
"And here," Mr Change continued, moving his hand to the lower section of the plan, "is what we’ve designated as the residential area."
Ethan’s gaze shifted to it. They looked like structured architectural rows of housing.
"This section has been designed to accommodate up to five thousand working men comfortably. Each unit includes—"
Ethan raised a hand slightly. "Five thousand?"
The man paused. "Yes. Based on projected workforce estimates for the initial phase—"
"Make it ten."
A brief silence settled over the table.
Ethan’s eyes hadn’t moved from the plan.
"Better yet," he added, almost as an afterthought, "design for fifteen."
The man gained a puzzled expression. "That... would require restructuring the housing density and the support systems significantly..."
"You have the space," Ethan said simply. "Use it."
The elf immediately scratched something out and began rewriting.
Eduardo had a smile on his face as he watched his Young Master. Most times, it really made him proud watching hour Ethan easily handled these conversations.
"I don’t intend to build something that caps out the moment it begins," Ethan continued. "If this grows the way I expect it to, five thousand will be nothing inside of two years."
The man nodded slowly. "Understood, Mr. Stark."
The discussion resumed.
The elf kept writing as Mr Chang spoke steadily, walking through the remaining sections of the plan.
The orc on the other hand, just listened for the most part.
But occasionally, and very briefly, his gaze would drift towards Valerie, specifically toward the open buttons of her shirt and the plushness they revealed.
Hayley caught it the first time. Then the second.
By the third, she turned her head and looked directly at him.
The orc’s eyes flicked up and met hers, and she held his gaze with an expression that communicated exactly one thing. "I see what you’re doing"
He straightened immediately, cleared his throat, and reached for a sheet of paper he hadn’t been using, suddenly very focused on pretending to write something important.
Hayley held the look for a second , then turned away with a quiet sigh.
The conversation continued as though nothing had happened.
Valerie, on her part, was entirely focused on her notes and hadn’t noticed a thing.
Ethan, meanwhile, had already moved on. His finger traced a different section of the plan, and for a moment he went quiet.
His gaze looked distant, as though he had briefly stepped out of the room in his own head.
"This shouldn’t just be a facility," he said finally.
He looked back down at the plan again
"With this much land... this layout..." The words came slowly, almost to himself. "There could be something else here."
The developer leaned in. "What do you mean?"
Ethan tapped one side of paper . "This could become a city."
The elf’s pen paused mid-stroke and Valerie looked up.
Eduardo’s eyes narrowed slightly with interest.
The developer blinked a few times. "You mean expanding the residential sector?"
"I mean rethinking it entirely." Ethan answered. "You’ve already got the foundation here. Housing, infrastructure, production. But it’s all segmented purely for function." He tapped the plan again. "Blend it."
He looked up briefly, then back down.
"Parks. Proper roads. Modern housing that doesn’t just serve workers but actually feels like somewhere worth living. Spaces for families. Spaces for people to spend time."
He gestured across the sheet. "Build it the way no one in this country has built anything before. I’ll work closely with your team to get the vision right, but the idea is simple —when people look at this place, I don’t want them to see a facility. I want them to see somewhere they’d actually want to be."
He tapped the center of the plan one more time. "It becomes a place people want to see."
The developer let out a low breath, still staring at the spread before him.
"A city," he murmured. "Mr. Stark... what you’re describing is no longer just an industrial estate. This is a full-scale housing and commercial development."