His logs were sent to Forian, while his bag and its contents were dropped on the ground. Valanil picked through his arsenal with interest, grabbing a few sharp daggers for herself. As for the rest of it, Motar and his people were given free rein since the Crobar masters’ creations couldn’t be sold for coins. Tailyn got twelve crystals and seven Alron potions, after which Valanil lopped off the assassin’s head with one quick motion. There was no way they were going to let someone that dangerous live.
Suddenly, the red lix piped back up.
“You know, I changed my mind about working with you. That oath of allegiance sounds great! Mu-Ro-Din is prepared to take it and recognize Vlashich as his chief. And if you want my logs and the contents of my bag, you’re welcome to it all. Just don’t let that crazy female anywhere near me!”
Chapter 9
“THAT’S PRETTY MUCH the size of it,” Forian said once he was done laying out the prospects for the city. A heavy silence fell over the tent—nothing about what the mage had just listed spelled an easy go of it for Mean Truk. And there were quite a few points to discuss.
First. In two months, the best liquidators Crobar had to offer were going to come looking for the dead group. No one had any doubt they’d come across the city, which left the only question what they would do. While they weren’t known for being particularly bloodthirsty, they definitely weren’t fans of anyone with mana. Forian would be killed just for being who he was. The same went for Tailyn—they had a mission for him. But what about the rest? And what would they do when they found a graduate of their own school? Neither Tailyn nor Valanil, not to mention Forian, would be left in the city. Would they begin wreaking havoc? Just leave? Nobody knew what to do about the first point, and that had everyone nervous right off the bat.
Second. Time was ticking steadily down to when they had to pay the tax. Rulers included, there were eighty-six humans in the city, which put the yearly total at 345 crystals. Tailyn had just eight to his name. The rest had gone toward concentrated noa, one shimmering stone ready to go. A third and a fourth were charging in the sun. As it turned out, the red mage who joined Tailyn’s army had twenty crystals, which gave Tailyn enough to start work on another noa. But that still left crystals as a problem until Mu-Ro-Din came to the rescue with three portal scrolls linked to the crystal mine. The next activation was set for a week later—the green lixes working the mine were supposed to have their next shipment ready for Halas. All the humans had to do was rob the blacks blind and duck back into the portal. With three to four hundred crystals in the load, Mean Truk was going to be set for the year.
Third. Tailyn was going to die in less than three months. On his own, with nobody’s help. As everyone knew all too well, getting into the academy library was impossible, as the boy was supposed to break into the most secure building in the world, get past the guards, and hand the keeper the book he’d found. And while the god would keep Tailyn safe until he got to the keeper, he was going to be at the mages’ mercy as soon as he relinquished the book. They definitely weren’t going to let him get away or use a scroll. Not only that, but Forian could only doubt that Sadil would have the Mean Truk leader killed. It was far more likely he’d be dumped in an isolation cage for the rest of his days given the fact that the head of academy security had found out it was possible to resurrect the dead. Declining the mission was impossible, too. Even Valanil poured salt in the wound by announcing that the boy’s death and subsequent return wouldn’t resolve the problem. As soon as he was back in the land of the living, the god would give him another three months to perform the impossible.
Fourth. Outfitting the city. The biggest issue there was a critical lack of materials, with Mean Truk completely bereft of stone, wood, and metal. To be fair, they had figured out why the city had been founded in such a hard-to-reach spot. After a scan of the area, the architect had told them about a mine with six hundred and thirty thousand units of platinum. Tailyn didn’t know much about mining, though the excitement in the treasurer’s eyes when he told the boy about the discovery gave him hope for the future. There was also a large high-quality marble quarry that gave them facing for the buildings. Of course, they were going to have to find miners at that level and start work first.
Fifth. The city residents needed to get their lives straightened out. Without their own kitchen, tavern, hotel, houses, shops, workshops, and everything else that made city life easier, the administration wasn’t going to be able to count on any real productivity. The guards had thrown up some kind of buildings, but they were such poor quality that they didn’t even show up in the list of city real estate.
Sixth. Next was the city treasury. Obviously, Tailyn had pulled off yet another miracle, but the treasurer couldn’t count on just getting lucky over and over. Feeding the city meant spending 217 coins every day. And with no reserves, they were going to have to start paying salaries a month later, coming in at another 4,100 coins a week or 586 coins a day. That put Mean Truk’s total expenditures as an independent city at 803 coins each day, though they also had to remember that 140,000 coins were coming due for the architect’s master plan for the city in two months. Then, there was construction itself...
Those were six mortal blows serious enough to doom a city far better off than Mean Truk. And while it was the perfect time to throw up their hands, the treasurer wasn’t about to do anything of the sort. The god had brought him to that point. The city needed to be founded, but it also needed to be protected.
“We need resources, so I’m going to head into the empire. The merchant guild isn’t linked to the empire—they’ll even trade with lixes if there’s something in it for them. And with as much platinum as we have, they’ll definitely be interested in sending us some miners. Tailyn, you’ll have to leave your belongings here and come with me. You can hand in the book and blow yourself up right in the library. Once Valia’s waited long enough for Crobar to hear that the mission was closed, she’ll resurrect you, and that will take care of the mission, keep the city safe, and let us get back to building it.”
“You’re wrong, Treasurer,” Tailyn said to the surprise of everyone there. The plan Forian was proposing certainly seemed to resolve just about all their problems. “If I lose my levels and parameters, we won’t have the crystals for the tax, and too many people will die. First, we need to grab the shipment of crystals, and then we can head into the empire. My death can’t impact everyone in the city.”
“Maybe, no one will have to die,” Valanil said suddenly. “If you think about it, our head here has too many useful attributes to just throw them away like that. Ronan got into the academy and even dragged a nameless in with him. From what Sadil said, he hasn’t found the portal, so we can use that. Forian will head into the academy, find the portal, let Tailyn know it’s safe to sneak in, and help him get to the library. Valia will then pull you both back out. The big advantage we have on our side is that nobody’s expecting you. Plus, there’s unification, so you won’t have to wait for a set time to activate the portal card.”
“I’m flattered you hold me in such high regard, but if Sadil wasn’t able to find the portal, I definitely won’t be able to,” Forian replied firmly. “Getting Tailyn out means having him in a temple with a stationary portal, and Mean Truk will only have one of those closer to the end of the year. He’d be picked up immediately in any imperial city. Oh, and Valia doesn’t know how to make dual portal cards.”
“Making the portal card won’t be an issue,” Valia said immediately. “I know the technique, so I just need to make it happen. We even have an anchor point—the terminal. Give me a few days, and you’ll have your cards.”
“See? There’s nothing we can’t solve,” Valanil said, flashing a smile at Forian. “We don’t know where the portal is, but we do know who does. We’ll kidnap Ronan and have a serious talk with him.”
“Why not just go straight for a nameless?” the treasurer replied with a snort. “Thinking a bit small, aren’t you?”
“The viceroy’s residence is protected by its owner’s reputation—nobody in their right mind would go against the empire. Nobody...except Tailyn. He’s already figured out concealment, so getting into the capital won’t be a problem. No one will think a young mage and his student are the most wanted criminals in the empire. At least, not unless Sadil has been blabbing about how young you’re looking these days.”
“He won’t say anything, but that’s not important. What you’re suggesting is absolutely crazy... Okay, let’s say we’re able to kidnap Ronan and find out about the portal. Tailyn gets into the academy and even back out. Doesn’t that still leave Crobar?”
“Yes, it does, and I haven’t the faintest idea what to do about them,” Valanil said. “I mean, at worst they kill Tailyn and collect the reward. But that will at least happen here rather than at the academy.”
“Why do I have to die? Can’t we come to an agreement with them?” Tailyn asked as he gazed down at the rainbow-colored sphere he was holding. “What do you think the patriarch would say if we offered to resurrect Isr Kale?”
“No one can find out about that,” Valanil said categorically. “We need to keep that possibility a secret for as long as possible—can you imagine how everyone would start hunting Tailyn? It wouldn’t be a measly hundred thousand coins, named star, and legendary card. We’re talking the kind of immortality only the provost and the emperor enjoy, and there are plenty of people out there who would like that.”
“That will be Mean Truk’s feature,” Forian said excitedly. “Just imagine—you bring us three hundred crystals, a tear of Alron, and we’ll say three hundred thousand coins, and in return you can resurrect anybody you want. Do you really think we wouldn’t find all kinds of rich people who would want to resurrect their loved ones? They’ll be lining up outside the gates. Forget the empire; we’ll even have Crobar and the academy in line.”
“And that’s exactly why we can’t let the news get out.” Valanil didn’t like the idea of anyone with money being able to come back to the world of the living. “It wouldn’t just be relatives. Actually, it wouldn’t be relatives at all. We’d be resurrecting tyrants, guild leaders, ancient mages, the kind of people who haunt your dreams...and that’s what you want to do?”
“It would mean the success of Mean Truk,” Forian replied, gazing back at the girl in confusion. “The worse it is out there, the better we look. That’s just the way it is. Don’t tell me you grew a soft spot for humanity!”
“Are you kidding me?” Valanil said with a snort. “I just don’t want that kind of crap wandering around my planet. Once they build their strength, they’ll want to get their hands on him or take him out to make sure nobody else can ever be resurrected. Sure, I’m all for selling this as a service, but we have to have some limits. For example, we need information on anyone we’re resurrecting, and we reserve the right to decline their order. Customers will have to sell us on who they want to bring back.”
“That’s perfect!” Tailyn was a fan of Valanil’s idea. He’d also been having reservations about unlimited resurrections—his old guardian, for example, was someone he wouldn’t have brought back for any amount of money.
“I’ll get in touch with Crobar and see what they think,” the herbalist said. “The three of us will head into the empire. Someone has to get the boy talking, and neither you nor Tailyn have the stomach for that. Anything else?”
With no other topics for discussion, the meeting was wrapped up. The next week for Tailyn turned into a series of days indistinguishable one from another—wake up, morning practice, studies, afternoon practice, dummy work, studies, evening practice. After wrapping up sixth-year Alchemy, he dug right into the two most important books, the ones describing how to make new elixirs. The pamphlets they called textbooks for years one through six turned out to be a waste of time talking about how to make elixirs in real-world workshops. There was information on fixing alembics, washing flasks, sorting ingredients, and what not to mix under any circumstances. For Tailyn, who had a virtual workshop, none of that mattered. Still, he learned the lot of it—that was the only way he could get to the seventh-year textbook.
What the boy missed most was making cards with Valia. The girl didn’t have any spare time to speak of, spending all her time churning through new cards to make sure the city had sufficient offense and defense. Just as she’d promised, she also figured out how to make two-way portal cards after spending a few 100% mana restoration potions. There ended up being five of them: four entrances and one exit linked to the terminal. One big boost there turned out to be the return of Vargot and Matilda—the squad of lixes Forian had dispatched came back with both lost named items. The bodies were gone, leaving nothing on the ground but what they’d been wearing, and that meant there was no access to their inventories or their contents. But even that was enough for Valia’s mana level to take a major leap forward.
“Chief, Mu-Ro-Din is ready to activate the portal,” Ka-Do-Gir said as he stepped into the tent and pulled Tailyn away from his reading. “It’s time.”
“Let’s go.” Tailyn tossed the book into his inventory and followed his servant out to find the team waiting for them—six warrior lixes, Ka-Do-Gir included. They’d decided to leave the shamans in the city. Speaking of which, Mu-Ro-Din had been hard at work turning Bar-Truk and a couple other lixes into “real shamans.” After just a couple lessons, Bar-Truk had been forced to admit the red’s superiority and teaching ability. The greens had never had anyone like that.
Valia? Tailyn asked in his head.
Ready to pull you back whenever you need it, the girl replied just as the red lix blew on his card. That activation went off without a hitch—the unsuspecting lixes on the other side of the continent activated their card right when they were supposed to. Back when they’d been coming up with the plan, Mu-Ro-Din had explained how everything worked: even when there were multiple entry cards, there was only ever one exit card. Everyone popped out at the same spot, tripping over each other as they did, and so they generally decided in advance who would go first. They had to hurry, too—the portals only stayed open for sixty seconds. Taking a deep breath, Tailyn stepped into the shimmering film. The space around him lost focus for a moment before turning into stumpy, morose mountains, and red dots immediately lit up on his screen. Raptor never took time off. But it was fine, as there were only thirty-five lixes between level three and level seventeen.
“A human?!” came a surprised explanation, and that was their signal to attack.
Boo...
Tailyn didn’t have time to check and see if his group had appeared or not. The chain lightning rolled through the lixes, turning five of them into twitching bodies on the ground, the main target included—the shaman holding the portal open. As he crashed to his knees, Ka-Do-Gir dashed over to finish him off. That told Tailyn the green lixes had shown up. Everything was going according to plan. Just then, spells and spears began bouncing off Vargot as the enemy began a counterattack that was unacceptably fast. Halas wasn’t about to lose his shipment. With that in mind, he’d sent his best, or at least close to it, only level eight named armor was just too much for them.
“Drink up!” Tailyn called over the internal communication system, after which he activated his next card. It was going to take five seconds to work. In the interim, Tailyn crouched down to make himself as small a target as possible, and that gave the lixes the mistaken impression that they were winning. They tried to take him out with numbers instead of strategy.
The sky above the mountains darkened. One of the lixes looked up and stared in surprise at the force of nature, enormous icicles beginning to rain down from the storm clouds. Tailyn quickly downed a yeti potion to make sure he didn’t end up a victim of his own spell. Thirty seconds later, the duration of Icy Rain-I, the area was clear. It was interesting for the boy to watch as the huge chunks of ice disintegrated into blue mist when they hit the attackers—their yeti potions worked perfectly.
“Ka-Do-Gir, c
heck the wagons,” Tailyn called over as soon as the icy rain ended. Finally, the boy had a chance to look around, and the first thing he saw was a dozen wagons loaded with some kind of sacks. That was interesting enough—they weren’t going to be able to pull them through the portal. Right on the other side were hills about three times smaller than the ones surrounding Mean Truk. But when he saw that a few wooden structures had survived his attack, Tailyn tensed up. Raptor couldn’t get through the walls to tell him if anyone inside was still alive. Still, he couldn’t help looking back over at the hole in the ground—there was a crevice right between the mountains that dove deep underground. It almost looked like some giant had whipped out his sword and plunged it into the planet’s crust. With both earth and stone pushed aside, the hole was more than twenty meters wide, though the more impressive part was that neither the bottom nor the other end were anywhere in sight. Tailyn didn’t doubt that stepping over for a closer look would only increase his wonder.
Isr Kale's Journal (The Alchemist Book #4): LitRPG Series Page 14