CEO in a Fantasy World 4

by Tristan H Brown

  Caesar had many things he needed to accomplish if he wanted to pose a chance against the trolls. Although he was confident in winning, he didn't know the capabilities of the person, or people, who backed them — knowledge was power, after all.

  Caesar could, however, speculate many things about the person behind the trolls based on a few observations. If they were, in fact, mighty, then there would be no reason for them to hide in the dark. This suggests that they are afraid of others figuring out their identity, and the only probable reason they would fear such a trivial thing, would be, of course, if they were human.

  Unfortunately, this conclusion leads to a few other puzzles, such as why the humans would care about a war between two medium-sized clans within the dark continent. Though Caesar assumed that Renee's rare bloodline was a significant factor, that couldn't be the only reason. The assassin that was sent to Renee's room was proof of that, if they didn't want to kill her, then why did they send an assassin? These mysteries nagged Caesar, but to no avail, he couldn't figure out their plans.

  While Caesar was thinking about these troublesome matters, he soon arrived at the mansion and snuck inside, although he could wait for the guards to open the gates, he didn't feel like catering to the fox-kin formalities and wasting time.

  Once inside the mansion, he made a beeline for the meeting room, though he didn't make any arrangements with the others. They were sure to be awaiting his arrival if they had a few questions they wanted to be answered.

  Thinking to here, Caesar quickened his pace and reached the meeting room in a relatively short amount of time; he slid opened the doors and stepped inside. Right as he entered, he could immediately feel a few pairs of eyes turn towards him.

  Khan, Musashi, Joe, and Renee were all present in the room, sitting at the long table in silence, Renee was drinking tea out of an elegant teacup. At the same time, Musashi, Joe, and Khan were in the middle of a heated discussion, alas, Caesar's abrupt appearance interrupted them.

  "What are you three discussing?" Caesar asked while sitting down at the closest seat, small droplets of sweat trickled down his face, making it apparent he had just completed some physical activities.

  Hearing Caesar's question, Joe cleared his throat and moved closer to him. "We were trying to give some advice to Renee on how to most effectively seduce a man… both of these fools think that she should complement their status, but I, an intellectual, believe that it would be better if she asserts her own status," Joe explained with an expression of frustration.

  "And here I was thinking that you three were discussing something productive, alas, I am once again baffled…" Caesar replied while massaging his forehead.

  Seeing that Caesar was disinterested, Joe smiled smugly, "hehe, mister perfect, how did Renee seduce you?" Joe asked with a wide grin, and even Renee, who was calmly sipped her tea, raised her eyes to look at Caesar curiously.

  Caesar rolled his eyes and put his right leg over his left, "Don't misunderstand, she didn't seduce me, I seduced her," he said slyly.

  If he remembered correctly, the first time he met Renee, he was intrigued by her abundant mana and couldn't hold his vampiric urges back; Resulting in him forcefully taking her blood and her screaming something along the lines of 'you better take responsibility' to which, he did.

  While Caesar was thinking about these things, he didn't notice Joe grabbing a piece of paper and inkstone… "please explain how you seduced her," he said while looking at Caesar as if he were some kind of professor.

  Seeing this, Caesar let out a chuckle and smiled wryly, "I don't think taking advice from me would do you any good, you see, when someone with my appearance flirts with a woman, no one bats an eye, however, if someone of your 'caliber' were to do the same… I'm afraid," his words trailed off as he didn't want to insult his friend.

  "What? Finish your sentence; god damn it," Joe growled with his fists raised in the air.

  The corner of Caesar's lips curled, "of course, if someone of your caliber were to do the same, I'm sure the effect would be similar… the technique is to be assertive, you understand?" Caesar said while containing his laughter.

  Joe wrote down a few things on his parchment of paper and looked back up to Caesar with stars in his eyes, "what else?" he asked.

  "That should be the just of it. The rest is up to you…" Caesar replied while pulling back the bangs of hair that were slightly covering his eyes.

  Joe nodded his head and sat back down on his chair. The others in the room couldn't help but shake their heads, noticing his gleeful smile.

  "Ahem," Caesar cleared his throat and grabbed everyone's attention, "moving on to more pressing matters, Khan, were you successful in finding anything strange within both of those two traitors' rooms," he said while shifting his attention to Khan. He was causing the previous light atmosphere to change drastically.

  Khan rummaged through his clothes after hearing Caesar's words and took out two, elegant looking marbles… they were perfectly round and had a blue hue, inside the marbles were a few strange white lines.

  "Although there was nothing out of the ordinary, I did find both of these under their pillows," he said while sliding them across the table.

  Caesar grabbed the marbles and brought them close to his eye. He inspected them for a moment before opening his eyes wide in surprise. He had acquired something similar to the assassin lass's clothes.

  He immediately used his storage ring and took the marble he had gotten from the assassin's clothes. After a few moments of observation, sure enough, they were identical to the two Khan had discovered.

  Caesar attempted to put his mana within the marbles. Alas, they did not react and just radiated a dim, bluish hue.

  Although slightly disappointed, he still smiled, "Excellent work Khan, if my assumption is correct, this should be the device that lets them hear and communicate with the mastermind…" Caesar complimented, after a few seconds of thought. He delicately placed the marbles back on the table and directed his attention to Musashi.

  "Did you get the information that I wanted?" he asked curiously, and in response, Musashi took out a few small scrolls from his inner robes.

  "I couldn't get an accurate number regarding the amount enemies presently in the troll clan. However, I do have an estimated sum," Musashi replied while handing Caesar the scrolls.

  Caesar grabbed the scrolls and delicately opened them up, revealing quite a few words and numbers written within... detailing supplies, soldiers, and even weapons.

  Caesar carefully examined the scrolls and took note of each specific detail, the fox-kin elites numbered roughly 3000, about 6000 regular soldiers, and 20000 citizens were living in the current fox-kin stronghold. Three thousand five hundred swords, 3500 spears, 500 shields, 800 bows, 2000 arrows, 250 axes, and 150 daggers. While their food supplies were estimated to last only about two weeks, not including the amount of food the kobolds brought.

  Caesar nodded his head and shifted his attention to the other piece of paper that only had one line of words written in it… Twelve thousand five hundred troll warriors, 5000 elites, and 50 Ceros. This meant that the trolls had 17500 soldiers, whereas the fox-kin were at a measly 9000.

  After reading the contents, Caesar raised his eyes and looked at Musashi, "thank you for gathering this information for me... it will certainly help us in the long run," he said and leaned back in his chair with a contemplating expression.

  After a few moments of silence, Renee finally broke the ice, "where are Soka and Falthor?" she asked.

  Hearing her question, Caesar sat back up and tapped the table, "Falthor should be tired, so he has presumably retired to his personal quarters, I assume he didn't want to keep his family waiting for too long… as for Soka, I'm not entirely sure what he's doing at the moment," Caesar answered.

  After his words, the room once again entered into an awkward silence until, finally, Caesar sighed and stood up from his chair. He scanned Joes, Renee's, and Khan's face before landing on Mus
ashi's.

  "I need that tournament to happen within the next three days. We need to train, rebuild, and recruit as quickly as possible, with their superior numbers, I highly doubt they are going to let us rest for too long" Caesar spoke gravely to which Musashi nodded his head with a solemn look.

  "I will try my hardest. All of the men that want to participate have already signed up," Musashi replied.

  "Good…" Caesar suddenly shifted his attention to Joe, "follow me. We can perhaps make those tools you need for those mana gems," he said and turned around.

  Joe looked at Caesar's back with a lost and confused look for a few moments before frantically trying to catch up with him, "w-what do you mean?" he called out from behind, excitedly.

  Caesar chuckled while opening the door, "perhaps you will get along with them…" he said with a strange look in his eyes.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Joe tilted his head in confusion, "get along with whom?" he asked.

  Caesar just shook his head in response, "follow me. It would be much more effective for me to show you, rather than explain," Caesar replied without slowing his pace down in the slightest.

  Joe wanted to ask a few more questions, alas, he needed to fully concentrate on keeping up with Caesar, as his legs were more than twice as short. Thus, a strange scene was created with Caesar leisurely walking down the spacious halls while a short and stout dwarf ran to keep up with him.

  Even the many guards they passed by, couldn't help but turn their heads and chuckle… It appeared as though Caesar was bullying his younger sibling or son, which wasn't an entirely incorrect observation.

  They continued walking in a similar manner until they finally reached the inner gates guarded by a dozen or so guards. The gates themselves were made out of durable wood. However, there was no lever or any other sort of advanced contraption, meaning the guards had to manually push if they wanted to open or close the gates.

  None of this seemed to enter into Caesar's eyes, as he just simply walked toward the gate and pushed on it with his palm… soon, a loud creaking sound rang in the ears of all those present, and the gates swung open, creating a gust of wind.

  The guards at the side, who were somewhat sleepy, opened their eyes wide in surprise, and their mouths went agape, "h-how did he do that alone?" one of them whispered in shock.

  Caesar didn't bother explaining to the shocked guards, he just turned around and beckoned Joe to faster, although they were in no rush, he didn't want the gnomes to be asleep when they arrived.

  Joe, who saw Caesar's beckoning gesture, harrumphed in anger, large beads of sweat fell from his face, and his clothes were drenched… the chunky dwarf hadn't exerted this much energy since he was at the mountain, and that was under the effect of adrenaline, to boot.

  After a few more moments, Joe finally passed by the gate and caught up with Caesar, he then crouched down on the ground and held his knees as he gasped for breath.

  "J-just… wait… a god damn minute…" he said with long breaths in between each word.

  Seeing his exhausted appearance, Caesar rolled his eyes and leaned down to grab Joe by the collar, he put him on his shoulders and continued walking towards where the gnomes laid in wait.

  "As your friend, and more importantly, as a fellow man, I advise you to lose some weight," Caesar said from below Joe, he could feel his shoulders creaking from the heavy load… it was beyond Caesar how such a small body packed that much weight.

  "I'm not fat… I-I’m just big-boned," Joe replied with an abashed expression.

  Hearing Joe's answer, Caesar didn't continue to nag him about the topic. He was ignorant of the dwarven constitution, he, after all, had never read about or seen a thin dwarf… and while having these unnecessary thoughts, they soon reached the most western point of the fox-kin stronghold.

  The fox-kin stronghold had four wings, the Northern, Eastern, Southern, and Western, each wing containing a lot of space and residents. However, the northern wing consisted of soldiers, while the other three were mainly for citizens and supplies.

  Seeing that the gnomes were still putting up their tents and other necessities, Caesar didn't hesitate to approach them while setting Joe back down on the ground.

  "Magni!" Caesar called out while cuffing his mouth to make his voice travel further… And in the bat of an eye, nearly all of the gnomes turned their heads and looked over in curiosity… their eyes stayed on Caesar for a moment before shifting to Joe.

  They looked at Joe weirdly for a few seconds before they soon shifted their attention back to Caesar, as if they never saw Joe in the first place.

  "Ah, Caesar, I thought you were leaving… what are you doing here so late?" Magni pushed through the crowd of gnomes and greeted Caesar with a wide smile.

  Caesar smiled back and took a step forward, "I did, in fact, plan to leave. However, I wanted to ask you a favor," Caesar said with an apologetic smile.

  "Ah, you, asking a favor of us? I'll accept anything as long as it's within my capabilities!" Magni replied with stars in his eyes. He was excited to get something done for Caesar.

  Seeing his enthusiasm, Caesar didn't hesitate to gesture towards Joe, "I need you to craft a few materials designated for inscription, this dwarf, Joe, is a very skilled magic accessory craftsman" Caesar explained.

  Magni shifted his attention to Joe, who was somewhat hiding behind Caesar's legs. He hesitated for a second before putting his hand out, "nice to meet you, although I'm not skilled with mana inscription or anything of the sort, I'm a great engineer!" he greeted.

  Joe nodded his head and also put his stout hand out, shaking the short gnome's hand energetically, "nice to meet you, I had read about your race in some of my books. However, they stated you were… extinct," Joe said while tilting his head.

  "Haha, we could be considered to be extinct in comparison to our past strength, alas, the remnants of our race and clan have been hiding out here in the dark continent," Magni responded with an awkward smile.

  Caesar smiled wryly at the awkward exchange both Magni and Joe had, he cleared his throat and grabbed their attention, "ahem, Joe, please explain to Magni what you need to be created" he urged.

  Joe nodded his head in realization, "ah, yes, I need you to make a few things, such as a very slim but sturdy needle, some sort of clamps, and…" his words trailed off as he looked at the monocle covering Magni's right eye, "and… that!" he said while pointing to Magni's right eye.

  Hearing his requirements, Magni surprisingly didn't have a change in expression, "very well, however, you need to supply the materials, since your dealing with magic, I suppose you need steel that can incorporate mana" Magni spoke while stroking his long and thick beard.

  Joe nodded his head and glanced at Caesar, "would that be possible?" he asked, to which Caesar frowned and massaged his temples.

  "Sigh, I suppose I could ask Musashi… is that all you need?" Caesar replied.

  "Yes, I already have the mana gems, I just need the encryption tool and something to keep it steady while I compose my craft" Joe spoke with a puffed-up chest, and his confidence was on full display.

  Caesar glanced between Joe and Magni for a few seconds, "very well, both of you stay here and get to know each other… I'll go speak to Musashi," he said while turning around and walking away.

  Caesar didn't know if there was some kind of rivalry between the gnomes and the dwarves. However, a competition meant that their effort would increase… such a thing was desirable. Thus, Caesar devised this plan and hoped they would start arguing or, perhaps, have a debate on a few topics, as to broaden their horizons.

  Thinking to here, Caesar didn't wait for their reaction nor reply and immediately disappeared from their sights, leaving two confused and awkward people in his dust.

  "What do we do now?" Joe asked Magni.

  "I suppose I can get to work right away. I'll show you my workstation," Magni responded.

  Contrary to Caesar's expectations, his effort at creating a rivalry ma
y have ended up creating an unbreakable friendship. Nonetheless, Caesar wouldn't mind.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Caesar did as he said and headed straight for Musashi's quarters, although it was late, he doubted that the older man would already be asleep.

  Without Joe dragging Caesar down, he arrived at the inner gates within a few minutes and once again, transversed them by simply pushing on it with his hands.

  The guards stationed at the gate just simply stared in wonder as Caesar leisurely walked past them, their physical strength was much more significant in comparison to humans, however, to be capable of moving such a large gate with sheer physical power, was beyond them. Even Musashi, who was a master at utilizing his mana, would not be capable of moving the gate with such ease.

  Caesar, however, didn't pay much heed to the astonished guards, he was already used to such reactions back in Rahvin kingdom, the only difference being, that he restrained himself in the past.