B01DCAV4W2 (S) (2 page)

“The mercenaries were most likely meant to gather intelligence, my Lord, and perhaps harm you if possible.  Noble or not, the Count’s coffers are not bottomless.  Fielding an army, even a small one, is not a cheap undertaking.  I am not surprised that he is using a small skilled group to attack you.  He could not have known about the protective enchantment around the village.  Ten fighters would have been more than enough for a night raid.  They could have caused a large amount of death and damage among the nonhumans before fading away again.”

“So the question is, what we do with these two now?  I don’t really have a problem just letting the girl go if she was just hired to do a job.  Even if she talks and tells others where the village is, that cat is probably out of the bag.” 

Randolphus looked at Richter in confusion.  He shook his head, damn idioms!  He tried again, “I mean the damage is already done.  The other mercenaries might already be on their way back to the Kingdom.  We were never going to be able to keep our location a secret forever.  I’m surprised one of the ship captains didn’t sell us out too.”

“As for the Warrior though,” Richter continued, “I’m not sure what to do yet.  I’ll talk to Yoshi about
persuading
the man to tell us anything else he hasn’t shared yet.”

“My Lord,” Randolphus said in a cautioning tone, “I am familiar with the type of persuasion the sword adept employs.  Mercenary guilds wield a fair amount of power in these lands.  All who live by the sword accept that they may die by the sword.  If it is ever discovered that a mercenary was tortured after he had surrendered to you however, then there might be far reaching consequences.  At the very least, you would not be able to hire mercenaries if you ever had the need in the future.”

Richter hadn’t really thought of that.  He might need to hire mercenaries soon.  He had just been told by Hisako that they had found a bugbear camp.  It would be great to hire more fighters for the upcoming battle.  Hell!  He might need to hire some fighters to deal with the eaters.  “So if we let the guy go, would it make it easier to hire mercs in the future?”

“Perhaps, my Lord,” Randolphus said thoughtfully, “but I would caution you against putting faith in such men and women.  Most cannot be trusted to stand fast in a bad situation.”

“I won’t be paying for trust.  I’ll be paying them to fuck shit up.  I just need to know if they will fight if I pay them to.”

“Then it is a fine plan, my Lord.  There are some guilds that have, if not honor, then at least the intelligence to know that they need to honor their contracts.  The Kingdom of Yves is also not the only place to find mercenaries.  The dwarf clans of the Serrated Mountains are strong and have been known to trade their hard steel for bright silver.”

Hisako had told him he needed to speak with the dwarves anyway.  He would just have to find a way to grease the wheels.  “Okay, I’m guessing that Basil left while I was gone,” Richter said.  Then a thought occurred to him, “Did the mercenaries…?”

“No, my Lord,” Randolphus said.  “I had the same concern, but the Warrior knew nothing of our trader and he left a good week before they were first spotted.  Taking the river ways with the ship you arranged, he should have been safe enough.”

“Well when he comes back, we will have to send him right back out again.  I want to commission at least one group of fighters and have them back here as soon as possible.  I’m assuming you know about the various mercenary guilds of the Kingdom.  Tell Basil whatever he needs to know to pick the best.  We will also need to send a second group to the dwarves.  I’ll ask Krom if he has any insights on the best way to approach his people.”

Richter looked his chamberlain in the eye with a grave expression.  “Our enemies are multiplying.  I have already told you about the two large threats we are facing from the bugbears and the eaters.  Now we have to worry about the Count’s little mercenary band and whatever else he plans to throw at us.  To make matters worse, Hisako just told me that we can expect the monsters and creatures in the surrounding lands to become more powerful.  We need help.” 

Richter sighed, hating the words that were about to come out of his mouth, “Prepare a budget of how many men we need, and how much it’s going to cost me.  I was able to bring back some treasure which should hopefully cover the costs.”

“I will prepare everything, my Lord,” Randy said jotting down some notes.  “That brings us back to the original question.  What do you wish to be done with the prisoners?”

Richter sighed again.  He really didn’t want to have to deal with this when he was just coming home.  What he really wanted, was to take a hot bath and then sleep in a bed for about a month straight.  Richter squared his shoulders though.  Duty first, he thought.  “Okay, let’s deal with the Warrior first.  Is he in the building I saw outside with the guards?”

“Yes, my Lord.  I had the builders erect the two shacks in the center of the village.  We are keeping them guarded day and night.”

“How long have they been here?”

“They were brought into the village about three days before you arrived,” Randolphus replied. 

“Well let’s get this over with,” Richter said getting back on his feet.  “I need to stop at the treasury and armory first though.”

Randolphus organized the papers on his desk into whatever system he seemed to use.  To Richter the piles of notes just seemed to be randomly allotted to any empty space, but he wasn’t about to judge how his chamberlain conducted business.  The job got done and that was all he needed to know. 

Richter walked out of the room and over to the treasury.  Holding his Mark up to the glass circle in the door, he then heard the sound of massive bolts being drawn back before the sturdy door swung open.   The shelves of the treasury were just as bare as they had been before, but he set about changing that.  He unloaded all of the jewelry from the Tefonim queen’s vault.  He then started removing the bars of metal from his Bag of Holding as well.  It was laborious to remove them one at a time, and then take the time to stack them.  He had to actively resist the urge to turn the Bag upside down and shake it.  Richter was pretty sure the magical fold in space that let the Bag hold so much didn’t work like that, but it sure was tempting to test the hypothesis.

Removing all of the bars, high steel, moonstone, cobalt and quicksilver took longer than he thought it would.  He was happy he had taken the time though, because his Bag of Holding was definitely lighter afterwards.  Richter had to admit that seeing the stacks of metal filling his treasury made his heart happy.  It was clear and tangible evidence that his village was growing in wealth and potential.  They might not be stacks of gold bullion, but the metal in these pyramids would make stronger weapons and armor for his people.  That was definitely a form of wealth in The Land.

He placed the bars of elementum on a shelf, and then took one ingot of each metal and placed it back in the bag.  He had a quest to finish, and he planned to make his Magic Forge just as soon as he was done talking to the prisoners.  After pulling a few more items out of his Bag, Richter walked out of the vault with a lighter step.  It’s amazing what unloading hundreds of kilos off of your back can do for your posture, he thought.  Even if the Bag did reduce the weight of everything by 90%, losing dozens of kilos of weight was a welcomed feeling. 

Randolphus was waiting patiently outside of the treasury.  Richter had given the chamberlain access to all of the rooms except the vault that held the village’s wealth.  Randolphus had never seemed offended by the decision.  The man was well versed in the whims of rulers after having spent decades in the halls of power serving as the old King of Yves’ chamberlain.  Of course, if Randolphus had been offended, Richter probably would have never known.  The older man was too professional and polite to mention something like that. 

The next step was the armory.  When Richter opened the door, he was pleased to see that Krom and Randolphus had indeed been through the room.  The cobwebs had been removed, at least from near the entryway.  The weapons too had been polished and set in orderly rows against the walls.  Walking up to an empty table, he started unloading all of the non-magical equipment from his Bag.  All of the weapons and armors from the draugh were placed there for his people to later clean and catalogue.  He told Randolphus to make sure the haul was organized into what could be salvaged, what could be used for parts, and what needed to be scrapped.  The chamberlain jotted the order down on one of his papers, and that was that. 

Before they left the armory, Randolphus pointed out another small table.  It had some armor and a few weapons on it.  He told Richter that these were the items and equipment from the mercenary.

You have found: Steel Hauberk.  Defense +8 (max defense +9).  Type: Medium Armor.  Durability 34/40.  Item class: Common.  Quality: Average.  Weight: 8.3 kg

You have found: Steel Helm. Defense +4.  Type: Medium armor.  Durability: 25/25.  Item class: Common.  Quality: Average.  Weight: 2.1 kg.

You have found: Studded Leather Pants.  Defense +4.  Type: Light armor.  Durability: 19/20.  Item class: Common.  Quality: Average.  Weight: 1.9 kg.

You have found:  Pointed Steel Tipped Leather Boots.  Defense +3.  Type: Light armor.  Durability 9/10.  Item class: Common.  Quality: Poor.  Weight: 3.7 kg.  +1 damage to kicks. 

You have found:  Iron club.  Attack 7-8.  Durability 19/20.  Item class: Common.  Quality: Average.  Weight: 3.1 kg.

You have found:  Steel dagger.  Attack 7-9.  Durability 15/15.  Item class: Common.  Quality: Average.  Weight: 0.7 kg. 

You have found:  Small coin purse

Next to the mercenary’s gear, was a wooden short bow and a quiver of iron arrows.  A short dagger was laying under the bow.  Randolphus said those were from the woman.  Outside of a small coin purse, clothes and some non-magical trinkets she had nothing else.  He hadn’t seen the need to take any of that from her. 

Richter was surprised at the level of gear the mercenary had been carrying.  None of it was horrible, but he would have thought that a Professed Warrior of a relatively high level would have better equipment.  True, a sword was just a sword, it was the person wielding it that made it dangerous, but an enchanted sword or high quality armor could definitely turn the tide of a battle.  It also looked, almost new, lacking the dents and almost buffed out scratches he would have expected.  Well, just one more thing he would ask the Warrior about, Richter thought.  

The two men left the armory, walked past the Great Seal and down the tunnel leading to the outside.  Not one to waste time, Randolphus continued speaking to his lord about a million and one little topics and decisions that needed to be made.  Used to Randy’s efficient manner, Richter just kept answering at a steady pace, “Yes, No,” or quite frequently, “I’m sure you will handle it well, just do what you think is best.”  When Richter pulled out the new Magic Core though, and asked what his chamberlain thought he should do with it, the man stopped walking.

“Banished gods, please put that away, my Lord!  I have been getting an earful every day since you have left.   Craftsmen, tinkers, builders, they all want one!  Krom has hidden the one you gave him because he is afraid one of the other villagers will take it!  One of the things I was looking forward to about your homecoming, my Lord, was that it meant the Core would finally be used.  If the villagers get wind that there is a second one, it will start the whole cycle again.  Please keep it secret!”

Jeez, Richter thought.  Randy looked stressed!  The man was sweating!  Richter put the Magic Core away again, if only to ease his chamberlain’s nerves.  “Okay, okay, it’s gone.”  Randolphus’s shoulders visibly relaxed.  “I still need to know what to do with it though.  I don’t think just making another Magic Forge is the right choice.  Feels too much like putting all of our eggs in one basket.”  Richter realized he had spoken in idiom again.  He was going to rephrase, when Randolphus assured him that he followed this time.  “What I’m saying is, come up with an idea for me.”  The man nodded and made another note on his clipboard. 

As they walked, the various villagers greeted them and said hello.  Everyone seemed happy, but Richter wanted to know for sure.  He accessed the city interface and saw that loyalty was at the same level that it had been before.  Morale seemed to have dropped by twenty points though.  Remembering the potential drop in morale after the bugbears had burned down the longhouse, he asked Randolphus how long it had taken to rebuild the longhouse.  The chamberlain thought for a moment and answered eleven days.  It was what Richter had thought.  There had been a one-week grace period to rebuild, but after that morale would have dropped by five points per day.

Satisfied that nothing was amiss with his village, he checked his on status.