by K R Zax
It seemed like a wise choice. If you were to pick a side, it would spell trouble in some way.
“Fine, I’ll keep an eye on those guys and the hot… Ahem. I mean, the High Priestess.”
“Alright,” the Empress looked at me like I was some kind of creepy person, and then she handed me several more documents. “These are the ownership papers for the clothing shop, general store, brothel and servants. As we suspected, the management of all three places knew about the Baron’s shady deals, and we turned them into slaves.”
“Thank you, Your Grace. I will take a look at those places after I deal with a few things.” Hmm, should I take advantage of the opportunity? “I was wondering, would it be possible to acquire some poison from you alchemists?”
“Poison?” Man, now she was looking at me like I was a terrorist. What’s up with her expressions? “The Empire has a tight grip on that kind of substances, you better have a good reason for wanting some of that.”
Crap. “As I mentioned before, I run into a Wyvern nest and I need some poison to kill them.”
“We certainly have substances able to kill a Wyvern,” she nodded. “But people tried that before, and they failed. Wyverns have a powerful sense of smell, there is no way they will eat something poisoned.”
“Don’t worry about that, I have a plan.” No matter, she didn’t seem to believe me. “And if everything goes well, I might be able to provide you with Wyvern eggs.”
“Wyvern eggs?”
Got you! With only three Wyverns in the Empire, of course you would be intrigued.
“Yes,” I took a file that I bought for Lina, and started taking care of my nails. “I know that there are at least three eggs there. Of course, I am sure that we could find a few more if I had a considerable amount of poison.”
I knew that there were more, but lets see how she reacts for now.
“You...” Felisy growled at me. How could she be so cute when she was angry?
“Fine, I will provide you with the poison.” Nalisia then glanced at the enraged servant. “Felisy, send for the head alchemist. And please, control yourself.”
Chapter 13.
Lillian and I stepped out of the Portal and were back in my bedroom inside the mansion. That was because I had a Darkness mouse placed in there, and not in every other room. As we walked to the parlor, I realized how ineffective was my idea of placing a zombie in one room only. I should have an undead in every single corner of this place, maybe even put a few in these empty armors that stood as decoration in the hallways. That could turn out to be a good strategy for Portal traveling and security.
“My lord,” Aliona, my new secretary, greeted me with a smile. She was wearing a deeply cut dress today, so her slave crest was in plain view. The other day I convinced them to become my property if they wanted to stay in the mansion, and they all agreed. Sure, as a magnanimous person, I promised that they could keep all of their stuff, and that I would treat them the same way as if they were my concubines.
Sometimes I regret not having a mustache. It would be nice if I could relate with the stereotypical villain for once. Anyway, I did felt pleased with my scheme.
“This is Master Kiryan Rosti, he is an art student. And he claims that you asked for his presence, my lord.” Aliona introduced a young guy, probably around 15. He was skinny, pale, had black hair and bags under his eyes.
There were also several more people behind him. And since I could see the slave crest on some of them, I guessed that they were the managers of my new shops.
“Ah, Karsol’s student,” now I remember asking him to send me this guy. “The one who made my coat of arms. Great, are those your works?”
“Er, yes, my lord.” He handed me a folder, and I looked inside.
“Wow,” he’s good. All the illustrations are works of art. Though he could still improve a little. The first few dozen pictures depicted battles, adventurers, fights, and landscape. Then came the women: ladies, adventurer girls, several that looked like prostitutes…
“So, he’s also a pervert.” Lina said while looking over my shoulder.
“True.”
“No wonder our husband showed interest in his work.”
“Hey,” I reproached the girls as they tried to take a peek. “This is art. I need quality illustrations for my business.”
“Business?” Lillian and the rest seemed confused. “Are you going to sell paintings?”
“I’ve heard that you’re a student. Could you tell me about what kind of school you are going to? And I would also like to know more about the method you use to make these.” I ignore the girls because I was curious as to how this kind of realistic pictures were made.
“Well, in the School of Magic we have a variety of different classes,” Kiryan handed me a notebook and began explaining. “As a Water Mage, I decided to take the art class, Practical Spells class, and Water Element studies.
Um, as for the method to make those illustrations, we use special colors and move them on the paper until we get the image we want. Eh… Can I just show you?”
“Alright.” The guy wasn’t the social type. But maybe that is exactly why his art was good.
Kiryan sat on the floor, took a wooden box and a piece of paper from his satchel.
When he opened the box, I saw over a dozen little bottles with paint inside. I watched as he opened them, then tiny drops of paint flew into the air and fell on the paper. The paint moved like it had a will of its own, danced on the paper, merged with the others on some places, and formed shapes on others.
The colors took form, sometimes changing in form and tone, until the illustration was done. It was a lovely picture of Roxy, kneeling by my side.
“Nice,” I complemented his work. This was exactly what I needed. “Tell me, can every Water Mage learn to do this? What about replicating? It should be easier, right?”
“Well, I guess,” he shrugged his shoulders. “Creating an illustration or painting requires focus and subtle control, but it is easier to replicate something.”
Excellent.
“How much should I pay if I want to buy the rights to this illustration?” So far, everything is going well for me. I only hope he won’t charge too much for his work.
“Huh?” Kiryan was looking at me like I just fell from another planet.
“You know, if I want to make copies of this and sell them. I wouldn’t want a lawsu-” God, don’t tell me they don’t have copyright laws here.
“If you want to make copies, you can just make them, right?” Kiryan looked confused for a moment. “I mean, I don’t care what you do with it as long as I get paid for my work.”
“So how much should I pay you for this one?” I could already see the money dropping in my coffers.
“Ten silver coins.” He seemed a bit uncomfortable. “You know, I have to use a special kind of paints and they are very expensive. I can’t sell it for a lower price.”
The art on this letter sized piece of paper is worth ten silver coins? How much was the cost of the materials, and how much the cost for the mage to produce it?
“How does a gold coin sound?” That should be fine for one of his works. “I will also pay for the paper and paints, and you will receive an additional fee if you can teach a Water Mage how to replicate your work.” I had a few Mages as my slaves, and one of them had a pretty good control over the Water Element.
“My lord,” a young girl wearing a gray robe bowed to me. “I am Shalya, lord Bray Walden’s daughter and I am here to serve as your legal adviser.”
“Oh, my.” I was expecting for lord Bray to send me a member of his family, but a daughter? And such a beauty? Nice move Lord Bray. And don’t worry, I will cherish her for the rest of my life. “It is a pleasure to have you here my Lady.”
“You may call me Shayla,” she blushed cutely when I checked her out. “I just heard your conversation with young Master Kiryan, and I wondered if you would like me to prepare a legal agreement?”
I to
ok her hand and press my lips on it. “Pleas, I would very much like that.”
“How many girl’s do you think our husband is going to ‘charm’ today?”
“The sun is still in the sky, so who knows? Three? Five?”
“For the love of Kriss! How can you underestimate him like that?”
“The soul of a pervert never rests.”
Ignore them, you’re doing fine. “So, who are this people?” I asked Aliona and looked at the group of five people, three men and two women. “Are they perhaps my new slaves?”
“Yes, my lord.” Aliona said and introduced them to me. A man and a woman who were in charge of the clothing shop, two men for the general store and a woman that managed the brothel.
“Ladies, gentleman, I hope you will give your best while working on my behalf.” They all managed my new enterprises, so I will have even more money coming in. And with a slave crest, they won’t be able to cheat.
“Is that an order, boy?” One of the two men in charge of my general store was grinning defiantly. He was fat, bald, and looked like the kind of guy who would make trouble.
“Orders can be tricky sometimes, and people can find a loophole in certain cases.” I replied, and that was the truth. It’s one thing if I order something like ‘come here’, and a different one if I say ‘take care of my shop’. I am not saying that he will ruin my business, but he certainly can play the ‘you didn’t give me the order’ card, and just cause me a headache.
“That’s right, ‘boss’. Hehe, you better give me specific ord… Urgh!”
When the fatty started threatening me, Trinity Spear materialized from the Darkness in my hand, and I pierced his chest with it.
Oh, crap! I reacted impulsively. But I couldn’t help it, this guy was taking things too far. And besides, he’s a criminal slave, so killing him was not a serious issue. I think.
When he dropped dead on the floor, I took a crystal, Absorbed his life force inside it, and put it in his chest. I shouldn’t waste a dead body if I don’t have to.
“That’s a good boy,” I said when the new Darkness Zombie disappeared into my shadow, then I looked at the others. “Does anyone else need special orders?”
They were all shaking their heads and I could see a woman sobbing. Weren’t they overreacting? I don’t kill just any person that offends me. Not always.
“Great! Now let’s go see the shops and brothel.” Since no one else had any questions, I can go to take a look at my property. Ah, there’s so much blood and piss on the floor, so disgusting. “Polyana, could you please take care of the rug? And if you think that it can’t be saved, then just throw it away.”
“Yes, my lord.” She bowed and called for a few maids to take that thing outside. Man, she’s so reliable.
***
The next day, we were camping a mile away from Tsarigrad, sitting around a fire while my cook and her two assistants roasted some rabbits.
Yesterday I had to check out my clothing shop, general store and brothel. It took me some time to write down the prices of some products that could turn out to be more profitable after a few adjustments were made to them.
I also had to describe the new uniforms I wanted to be made for the members of my stuff. And Kiryan was very useful. He could create perfect illustrations after hearing my instructions, so I was convinced that the tailors will do a good job.
The guy was like my magic Photoshop, so convenient to have around.
“My lord, it is ready.” One of the cooks put a baked rabbit on a wooden tray.
“Hmm, it smells so good.” It really did, considering the amount of herbs and spices I told them to put on the rabbits.
I took a small bottle from my Shadow Storage and put it inside the baked animal, then I pushed a piece of cloth inside as well, to prevent it from falling out.
“OK, pick it up and go.” I told one of my zombie goblins who were standing on one side of the fire. He obediently took the wooden tray and rushed into the Portal I opened for him.
Then I looked through the eyes of my rat as the goblin walked inside the Wyvern's cave and placed the tray on the ground, just a second before his head was bitten off. The Wyvern then sniffed the rabbit, and since she didn’t sense anything suspicious, she opened her jaws and swallowed the present.
Yesterday I received ten bottles with poison from the Empress, and the alchemist assured me that one was enough to kill a Wyvern if I am able to feed it to him.
People normally can’t do this. I mean, who was crazy enough to take a roasted animal to a Wyvern? Even my zombie lost his head as soon as the big lizard saw him getting close.
Now I only had to sit there and wait for the glass bottle to dissolve inside the Wyvern’s stomach. If those monsters could dissolve bones that were tougher than normal steel, then dealing with ordinary glass shouldn’t be a problem.
Is it starting? The first Wyvern that ate the rabbit outside the cave was now trashing in pain. It looked like he was trying to scream, but some kind of smoke was coming out of his mouth instead. The beast scratched at his throat, ripping the scales and flesh with his sharp claws. In the end, I wasn’t sure if he died from the poison or blood loss.
I continue sending my undead with the delicious rabbits and watched the Wyverns dying. Sadly, I didn’t have enough poison for everyone, but this much should suffice.
“A team of five, get ready.”
The girls were in their protective gear, and at my command, five of them stood in line behind me. I surveyed the cave and moved the rat closer to the Wyvern nest.
When I stepped out of the portal, I moved close to the fallen Wyvern, and since I couldn’t sense a strong life force radiating from it; I touched the monster, and it went into my storage.
Meanwhile, the five girls rushed to the nest. Four of them were carrying sacks, and the fifth girl was tasked with putting the eggs inside. Then they all run back through the portal.
Success. We were back at the camp in less than thirty seconds, with a dead Wyvern and four eggs. I observed the terrain with my rats and mice, waiting for the perfect time to strike again.
One Wyvern found a dead female and cried in pain, alerting the rest of the monsters. I could see them sniffing through the caves as they looked for the culprit.
It took us a bit longer, but we efficiently raided the three other nests. And then I went on my own to collect the other dead monsters.
It was a bit tricky since there were eight grown Wyverns flying around and killing everything in sight, and three younger ones, trying their best to act tough. Also, let’s not forget the five very young monsters that couldn’t fly yet, but were screeching annoyingly all the time.
Anyway, when I finished with the hard work, I took a dead Wyvern out of the Storage, along with a bag of crystals.
First, I Absorbed his life force into an empty one which I then inserted in his chest. But I also put several crystals filled with the life force of Trolls, Raging Bears, Armored Turtles and other strong monsters. With this much, the Wyvern should be as strong as when he was alive at the very least.
“Aw, crap!” I fall down after I spent almost all of my mana, filling the corpse with Dark Magic.
“Darling!”
“What happened?”
“I’m fine! I just need a little rest.” What the hell? Why did I need so much mana for this monster? Was it because of his size or strength? Maybe both?
In the end, I spent the whole day making Darkness Wyverns, and I barely ate anything since my mouth was numb from all the mana recovery potions.
Chapter 14.
“Aaaaarrrrgghhh!”
Three of my new Darkness Zombies attacked another Wyvern while he flew in the sky. I watched in joy as the strong monster struggled to get free, but one of my minions broke his neck and the massive creature fell from the sky like he was a rock.
“Impressive,” Nistry said while we watched the show from a safe location inside the forest.
“To think that his crazy pl
an worked,” Lillian shook her head. “I mean no disrespect, my lord, but when you talked about the plan it did sounded like a joke. And then, when you actually did it...”
“Still, it doesn’t feel like it is a heroic deed.” Milia sounded troubled as she bites her nail. “Using poison is a shameful strategy.”
“What?” I asked skeptically. “Would you prefer that I charged at it with my spear and risk losing an arm? If not, my head?”
