City of Akland
Ellenwar Manor
“Hero Edgar, it is an honor to meet you.” I painted a false smile as the young boy, barely into his upper teens, stood proud and with an obnoxious grin facing me. Edgar Luciana, a newly summoned hero who proclaimed his ‘engineering skillz.’ By right I’m required to meet with him, and at least hear him out. I’m guessing he’s going to offer… number six.
“Treasurer Ellenwar, it’s about time you met with me!”
I run my fingers over the braille notes left by my spy detailing the conversations between the various heroes. “Steam engine. Called it.”
“That’s Lord High Treasurer Ellenwar boy! I’m a high noble and you’d be best to remember it. The King gave me a divine writ ordering to hear out all of you heroes but that does not mean I have to overlook rudeness. If there was anyone else in this room I’d have your head!” The boy took a surprised step back as he felt the gravity in the room shove him back and down to his knees. “Remember your place when you speak to me.”
The hero gave a hasty nod and I released the magical pressure making him kneel, though he didn’t attempt to stand. “Maybe the peasant can be trained.”
I turned around to face the wall as I spoke, hiding my amused expression. “So what is it you wanted to convince me to buy?”
He stood up since my eyes weren’t on him, not that he could see anyways, and proceeded to go into a half-rant half-lecture on his words, natural laws and the principles behind science and specifically, the legendary steam engine. He even applied his own magical theories to modify it into a perpetual motion machine unlocking limitless clean energy by substituting the fuel with magical energies.
“It’s just way too easy.” I let a soft little sigh escape my lips as I still fought to hold back my laughter, though I probably didn’t do as good a job as I wanted. “I can’t very well tell him that we have five separate versions of perpetual motion machines sitting in our treasury that we aren’t using for the public because of the social revolution industrialization will cause. Well, there is that other thing anyway…”
Putting on my facade once more I turn to face him and pull out a paper draft of his proposal already stamped with a “Rejected” marker. I summon a spy and hand the papers over to them to deliver to the king before turning back to the boy. “I already know about steam engines. They won’t work in this world, especially not your version. I had thought you would have something else to suggest that was new but I can see that was just my mistake, you're wasting my time. Get out.”
Already forgetting the lesson I taught him, or maybe just disregarding the supposed intelligence since he doesn’t have anything to gain now, he walked forward slamming his hands trying to intimidate me. “You can’t do this to me! I’m a hero!”
I can feel dozens of assassins beginning to appear within the room's shadows but they don’t step forward. There isn’t a point. I let out a sigh before shaking my head and putting on a performance of reluctant agreement. Grabbing my quill I quickly write out a writ of authorization for him to use a factory on the edges of the city. “Fine. Prove me wrong and I’ll pay you fifty thousand gold for a successful prototype. This is a factory you can use with staff who will do what you ask.”
He tears the paper from my hands laughing at me and calling me a ‘cuck’ whatever that is before turning around and leaving. As soon as he’s out my spies shut the door behind him but don’t move, allowing me time to calm down.
We all sat in silence for a while before the oldest spy, my first, handed me a braille note. I ran my hand over it to confirm it was asking what I suspected.
“The Magical Steam Engine, does that right?”
I nod letting a sadistic smile come to my face. “It was as I told him, the magical steam engine can’t be built in this world. Not as he plans it anyways. Those old researchers call it Entropic Laws of Magical Destabilization. A close system that has competing natural and magical laws will generate entropy and when enough entropy is gathered in a closed system it will eventually collapse in one big, noisy, explosion.” My spies can’t laugh but I felt like they were all enjoying this as much as I was.
The old spy handed me another note. “Survivors?”
I thought about it for a moment before shrugging. “Use your own judgment. They’re criminal slave workers in that factory, I was going to sell them off to help our finances a bit but if they survive the test there is a chance they could spread the theories. If you see someone who could form the contract I’ll speak with them beyond that… I’ll leave it to your discretion.”
He nodded and vanished into the shadows leaving just one left watching me.
I took a deep breath and waved for him to open the door letting the next group in to speak with me.
This time rather than a summoned hero it was a representative of the slavers guild, whom I’d had contact with in the past. “This is just going to be a long day isn’t it.” I held back the exhausted expression that fought to escape and kept my most political smile plastered onto my face as I greeted him.
“Mr. Catullus, I'm glad to see you in good health.”
He knelt down low and greeted me with my full title, not attempting to hide any scorn or frustration in my politeness. “Lord High Treasurer Ellenwar, yes it is pleasant the gods have let us meet again despite my poisoning and five separate muggings.
I gave him my best diplomatic smile before responding with a laugh, “The city guards should really try harder. I simply don’t know what I’m paying them for if they can’t manage to protect such an important member of our community.”
He let out an exhausted sigh and dropped the act. “Henry, you need to do something about Elyss’s territory and these monster attacks.”
I dropped my own act and nodded for my spy to secure the door. He materialized and began mouthing the spell, after a second the shadows around the door and across the walls hardened smothering out all light and sound that might escape the room. “I guess this is a manner worth taking seriously.”
He just nodded in reply.
“I’ve had my spies and a few quiet groups of adventurers exploring the region and we’ve made a few discoveries worth noting, I can’t imagine though that those are the kinds of things that would bring you to my office.”
He gave a bitter laugh acknowledging my statement. “Well some of the heroes visiting you seemed curious to give my product a taste but you are right, that alone isn’t enough to make me try and come here. Not when your hospitality is so famous and… enthusiastic.” He sat down at the chair in front of my desk prompting me to take my own seat.
He reached inside his coat pocket and pulled out a manila envelope with the wax seal of the Elyss family, resealed very well but not so well as to deceive my eyes. “That’s a report by the former baron’s youngest son. Knight Captain Francis Elyss, a couple of days ago he was chasing after his favorite slave that had escaped. I lent him some of my men, intending for them to go alone but he insisted on going with. He’d gotten a hold of some kind of relic and he wanted to see for himself how it worked.”
I frowned at the irresponsibility of a Knight Captain owning slaves let alone chasing after them like some child, but I’m guessing the universe punished him acceptably from the stories I’d heard about the region. “So they all died then?”
Catcullus wore a sick kind of smile as he shook his head, “No. The Knight Captain survived. Stupid boy followed his instincts and abandoned everyone when he heard the monster howl. Ran for the woods and didn’t stop running until he reached civilization. What’s even stranger is the slave was gone but there doesn’t appear to be evidence that she was slaughtered. No blood spray at all and no destruction to the carriage she was riding in.”
He fell silent as I contemplated the story and its repercussions.
“So you're saying that our Monster…”
He finished my sentence when I fell silent, “... Isn’t a monster at all. At least not in our normal sense of the word. In all likelihood it’s just a normal stupid peasant cursed by some god out of boredom. It wouldn’t be the first time.
I nodded along with his words agreeing with them for the most part, while getting to the heart of the matter. “You came in here saying that I needed to do something about Baron Elyss’s territory, what is it you want me to do exactly?”
“Have the king order the royal knights and upper strength adventurers to domesticate and recapture Baron Elyss’s territory. You can even use the quashing of the brewing civil war there as an excuse if the Monster attacks aren't enough.”
I listened to his words as I imagined how many sleepless nights that would leave me trying to recoup the loss to our already empty treasury. How many days could the soldiers go without food before thoughts of rebellion appeared? They won’t accept a loss to their pay but if we hide it behind the cost of gear maybe we can sneak it by.
As I contemplated the ethics of intentionally leading soldiers to slaughter to cut back on employment costs, Catcullus sent out a lifeline for them, and our nation's economy. It seemed clear to me that this was also, probably, his actual motive for coming here. “I understand I’m asking a lot so the slaver’s guild will issue a loan to cover the cost of the monster’s extermination. Hunting a thinking creature with motivation is a lot easier than hunting a raging monster after all, and that is our primary need. I expect of course once this is done that the King and his counselors will be much more sympathetic to our need for relaxed slaving policies.”
I closed my eyes holding back the frustration and rage as much as I could realizing I’d fallen completely for his trap. I needed his money to combat not just the monster but to simply keep the nation running. That loan can buy a lot of food for the peasants making it that much easier to get them in the fields maintaining the status quo.
On the other hand, getting rid of slavery has been my personal goal. Something he knows very well. If I concede here and tell the king to go along with his plans we’ll be set back more than two generations of progress.
But we have to get rid of the monster.
If it truly is a thinking being then it can be reasoned with and controlled which specifically means our enemies can control it. With every person it kills their life essence is empowering it and if we do nothing then with time it will turn it’s claws on the capital and we won’t have anywhere near the power needed to stop it.
That’s not even considering the curses. Henry doesn’t seem to have known about them or he definitely would have said something but if other groups have seen the attack sights I should operate on the assumption that the curses have begun to spread through the populous and the only realistic option to stop them is to kill them at the source and get rid of the Monster.
I closed my eyes, wishing I had some kind of ability to see into the future and understand just how badly I’m hurting myself doing this. “Fine. Ok. I’ll get the king to relax the regulations. You better have that money for us or nothing can happen.”
He smiled at me and stood up, turning to walk towards the door pausing just to say, “The money should already be in the royal treasury. I had it deposited before I came here. “
