Reborn as a Baron Lord (Light Novel) (A Steampunk LITRPG Light Novel Book 1)

by Han Yang

  Lanisha scoffed. “They don’t talk. Not the guards, not once -”

  “My pleasure,” the Station Guard said.

  Yeah. While it was a joy to hear for me. The rest of well… everyone tensed. The Station Guard’s voice was loud, intimidating, and made the baby cry.

  “I have some orders to fill,” I said, retrieving my paper. I handed the six pages of trade good numbers that Duke wanted checked to Hudson. “Verify these. There is a board or something for bid and offers right?”

  “Uh… Yes Baron Bradley. Inside the trading floor,” he said, acting meek for the first time since I met him.

  “Just tell the door guard you're with him when you're done. Come, let’s set your account, Mr. Bigshot.”

  Joana giggled and said, “If she only knew.”

  “Ear enhancement. Got four husbands… trust me I know. So that dump of a town is down to what- a tier 1 now?” Lanisha asked.

  “Two, go us!” I said not earning a reaction I liked.

  She waved us forward, giving a sassy head shake. Her boots echoed off the fine wood flooring. She led us beyond tellers, turning at her desk and heading for a back door. There was a lock she undid and we were welcomed inside.

  There were filing cabinets against a back wall. A lamp puffed out steam with an angry yellow shade. There were pencils on a finely crafted desk, next to about three months of paperwork, and four black whites of her husbands. Her chair creaked when she sat and we only had one option. To stand.

  “The note, do you know what it said?” Lanisha asked.

  “Not a clue.”

  “It verified who you are. With a Gearnix stamp and Gearnix Station Guard. A first. And I hope, a last. You’re going to make a whole bunch of nasty smelly waves claiming Norn. Hell, even, Dardin may declare war on you,” she said with a huff.

  I frowned. “We merely want to grow.”

  “Yeah, well, Norn is known for being a sucker city that is ripe for looting when it folds. Not to mention, nobody likes changes. I don’t want to flipping sit before the council and explain why a Gearnix Guard handed my teller a letter. But I will, all because you want a trade discount you can’t afford,” Lanisha said shaking her head at my audacity.

  “Is it done then? I wanted to do animal shopping and -”

  She opened a drawer and slammed it. Ginli bit her lip to keep from giggling. Joana danced with a fidget. She eyed me for help.

  Being the hero, I asked, “The privy?”

  Lanisha scoffed, eyes full of disdain. She pointed to a side closet that Joana rushed into.

  “This will be good for the life of your Dictatorship. How it works is simple. You trade more, your taxes go down more. That line those folks outside were waiting in was a dispute or inquiry line. Around the back are the trading desks. No lines when money swaps hands and taxes are earned. Things are a bit chaotic in the pit.

  “Have patience and realize if you are too cautious something may well sell before you buy it. Hexpa is a tier 6 trade capital of the region. Easy blimp flights, good train times, and a big port. Our rating is a 100 and we keep it there. We also don’t care what your rating is.”

  She paused, dipping a feather pen into ink as she copied information from the note onto the document. I had a feeling this last statement was a lead in.

  I decided to take the bait. “And why do you not care? I have a 99 instead of a hundred for example.”

  “Glad you asked,” Lanisha lied in a dry tone. “Say you want to set imports on sheep. Bid is 4.11 cubes. You being one train ride away, you bid 2.99 cube per sheep. Danny hauls sheep over and you stiff him. Shocker, Norn not payin. Doesn’t work that way. You deposit hydrox to fulfill your bids that cover tonnage at a decent guess.”

  I went to raise a hand when Hudson walked in, and Joana left the privy to creak across the floorboards to stand at my side.

  “What’s in note two?” Hudson asked with furled brows.

  I groaned. “Did you buy the items Duke wanted?”

  “Yeah, I deposited the full trade amount. It was -”

  Lanisha snickered, almost slapping the table. “Probably three cubes.” She enjoyed her rude joke while finalizing the paperwork. She spun the document. “Sign here, here, and here. When you move a hundred thousand cubes you get a one percent tax discount. A million two. Ten million three. Hundred million four. And a billion five. We don’t go lower than five.

  “Trust me, I may be a sassy business woman but signing this document costs nothing and gains everything. It also ensures our trading partners stay happy to an extent. Where are you staying in case the council wished to send a fruit basket?”

  “What’s a fruit basket?” I asked, signing the last line.

  She hooted out a laugh that echoed in the small room filled with people. She even clapped her hands in joy. “That made my day, Mr. Smartass. Oooweee. What’s a fruit basket? Too good, too good. Where ya stayin? For real though.”

  “Gradium, wasn’t able to check in, the big guy interceded,” I said.

  “A sense of humor, can use big words, and has a big shot. Get yer brooms ready you two. You’re gonna be beating away the ladies when they hear there is a fine new Baron in town.”

  Lanisha was laughing. Like a lot. I kinda felt left out. Like I wanted to laugh but the laughter was at me, but it wasn’t mean at this point.

  “The portly fella, Wesker, that’s this one’s dad,” Lanisha said, pointing to a muscly man with a curled mustache. “Tell him I said to put you up high and that yer poor but nobles for Norn. He’ll hook ya up, maybe. Is it Second-day or… its Fourth-day? Damn… how time flies. Eh, still try. Outta here now. Welcome to Hexpa, and all that.”

  We were ushered out of her office in a hurry and while everyone still wanted answers. I was waved at by a ten foot tall machine of death. His motions to follow him superseding everything else.

  One problem, he held a hand out to my group and then raised two fingers to me. How the hell Duke could get them to do this stuff…? It was unnerving. I extracted the second letter unfolding it quickly.

  The resident tracker in Norn had a +1 next to it. As in, a mother is expecting. This is amazing news and most women won’t know until they try to rent a room at a fancy hotel or enter an arena with more than a one trip pass. Or… I doubt you’ve figured it out yet.

  I checked all the women of Norn. Funny thing is none of them -

  “Ducks and chickens!” I blurted covering my mouth. I read the next part quickly.

  Had a message to see the Station Manager. Leaving it to be Hudson’s daughter in law who just had a baby. Not likely. Ginli. Not likely… And all it takes is one time. Here is the rub and the secrecy. You have a choice.

  There is a .1 percent chance she will magically not be a mother. After a month, it's a guarantee. Some anomaly with Gearnix baby codes or some such. Still a chance. You can avoid the nice hotel I told Hudson to recommend to you and stay somewhere they don’t care who goes in and out.

  Or you can accept that fact that she will be restricted from places that require readiness verifications for reentry. I wish you luck and enjoy gearing up for the mines and buying animals to haul back that sweet, sweet ore we need. We need venturebots!

  Congrats, you’ll be a swell dad.

  Duke

  I dropped the letter. Fire raced out of the Station Guard’s finger, incinerating any evidence the note existed. If I looked shocked, well, it showed. Even the strangers watching me were waiting with anxiety for something, anything.

  “Joana, you… we… need to go to the Gearnix station for three tiny augmentation parts. Due in nine months,” I said with a smooth tone and straight face.

  Joana fainted, Ginli dove and caught her. There was cheering, clapping, and me racing to ensure a waking Joana was alright.

  The next few hours were a whirlwind after we picked an eye, right hand and left leg. Like there was a lot of disbelief by the sudden development. I was numb, not really letting something so far away register so intensel
y.

  I had conflicting thoughts inside me. I’d have taken precautions if I had known the facts. The one in a million chance of this happening just seemed like it never would. And yet, it did. Right away too.

  I was content with letting the situation grow on me and the fleeing nature I felt rising from somewhere was tampered down. I was going to fix Norn and there was no better way to say I believed in the future than having my own child in that city. Which meant even more work to do.

  Ginli and Joana were glued to each other, talking baby talk and about every ten minutes I’d be remembered. I would get asked questions I had no idea how to answer besides that sounds add pleasant adjectives. They were sweet and saw I was trying.

  Turns out, Lanisha’s father in-law had no hookup. He did have a noble’s discount on a top floor suit that cost a fortune. Two floors down had a nice balcony for a tenth of the price. I gulped, affording only two rooms.

  The two night stay would be about half a molebear in hydrox. If we weren’t in celebration mode and having a once in a lifetime experience, I’d have picked a cheaper place. I went to bed that night with two girls plotting out everything they’d need for a nursery.

  Me… I wanted to get a new Darcy, some venturebots, cart animals, and maybe see an arena fight. Yeah, shopping for weapons, killing machines, powerful horses, and blood mixed with a side of guts sounded better than flower decorations to go with a cedar crib. But hey, I bet those flowers and crib would be amazing.

  Tomorrow was going to be full of excitement either way.

  CHAPTER 23

  “I’ve got three hundred cubes to spend, take me to your recommended cart animals,” I said to the guide who completely ignored me. “I need something that can haul large amounts of wood or ore. You know heavy loads.”

  Fun fact, a Gearnix Station Guard followed me everywhere and there were two outside the Gradium waiting for Joana to go shopping. Ginli and her were using their budget on baby stuff we couldn’t get in Norn.

  I had Hudson with me to take care of shopping for Norn. We arrived right at the crack of dawn, eager to get some animals to help till fields, haul heavy ore, and maybe even start a breeding program.

  There was no line and the group of salesmen pushed a young gal forward when we arrived. She was… frozen.

  I tapped her forehead, jolting her back to life. “Ya okay?” I asked.

  She nodded and then whispered, “Is he going to come in with -”

  “I will wait here,” the Station Guard boomed, not helping the situation.

  Most of the other sales people bolted, she walked forward, and hugged the robot’s leg. “Thank you for proving you’re… good. My mother would say you’re soulless machines. Father… before he passed would agree with me.”

  The Station Guard looked to me for help and I chuckled. “Mrs…”

  “Ms. Delila at yer… your service. Proper saleswomen use proper common,” she muttered the second line. Most of her nervousness was gone. “Three hundred cubes?”

  “I have more, but I was hoping to do some personal weapon shopping, the molebear broke my last bussie,” I told her.

  “You're that new Baron obviously. Always wanted to visit Norn.”

  “Why haven’t you?” Hudson asked. I could hear he felt slighted.

  She headed into the stables, deciding to walk and talk. I knew what a zoo was, and this reminded me of one. There were overflowing pens of species separated by sexes if they got along. If not there were huge stables likely with stalls.

  The size of Hexpa was daunting. These animal pens were the entirety of the level two walls.

  Our brisk paces allowed us a peek at mostly farm animals: ducks, chickens, cows, and even pigs. A few species were new to me, like a four legged swan that had a turkey beard.

  “Norn is devoid of opportunities. I went to Darden to find work and they were wantin too much in rent and too little in pay. Wanting sorry,” Delila said, stomping a foot.

  I tapped her shoulder getting her to stop outside the quacking sections of ducks who thought they were about to be fed.

  She smiled, batting eyelashes at me. Delila appeared in her late teens, but who knew with Gearnix. She had long raven hair in twin pigtails, hazel eyes, and dimpled cheeks. Cute in a take home to mom kinda way. She smiled from my inspection.

  “You can relax. I’m Baron Bradley, this is my banking advisor Hudson. No need to get formal. We’re okay with you being you,” I said and she blushed with a curtsy.

  “Manners are rare, thank you for introducing yerselves. Cart animals or do the ducks interest you also?”

  Hudson sighed and said, “We need everything. We have empty breeding space and suddenly have an investor.” He pointed to me. “I… I’d be lying if I said I understood animals. Our food production is based on what the lords kill and the seas giveth.”

  “How much space?” she asked.

  “Err… about half this barn area. Well, it has one plowed field,” I said and Hudson shrugged.

  “Why do ya need cart animals?” she asked.

  “Um… We need to restart the economy with basic goods. Moving stone, wood, and ore. Then there’s moving all that once it’s processed again. I… got a steambot… blessing. Yes, blessing. My hydrox consumption is already really high and steam wagons are too much to operate with no taxes coming in yet,” I said, folding my arm.

  Her loud hum resulted in her tucking locks behind her ear as she thought. “You want to work through the winter?”

  “Yeah, we don’t have a choice,” Hudson said.

  She bit her lip. “Follow me. Winters this close to mountains tend to get rough. You’ve got an opportunity not many can take. A fresh start without culling another species to make room. I’d recommend you become a species specific breeder.

  “There is a livestock section in the trade pit. You’ll see valuations there are slightly lower than here, but then you gotta add costs to move.

  “What I’m getting at is, if you find a set of workers with the right skills you can really do well for your city. Portin breeds draft horses. Darden is an arctic oxen breeder. We’re a mammoth breeder. Expensive to move but they’re great haulers. You got any taming animals from the wilds yet?”

  I eyed her speculatively, not sure if that was information -

  “Three arctic cubs. They’re adorable too,” Hudson said proudly.

  “No flipping way. That is insanely lucky. Out of all the cities only a few have breeding stock. I think we have five here for sale. They’re a good animal for hauling, but expensive to acquire and then feeding em… It’s like they have a bottomless stomach. Follow me,” Delila said, leading us from the poultry to predators.

  “How expensive?” I asked, wanting to head off wasted time.

  “A team of mammoths which reproduce every six to eight months go for about a hundred cubes. You’ll want pairs for a few reasons but we can go cheaper on singles. Especially outta breeding age. A -”

  “I think of a mammoth as being tall as this ceiling is -”

  Delila held a hand a little lower than my shoulder and said, “Nope, shoulder height, and boy oh boy, they’re strong. Stronger than oxen. The difference is oxen are half the price.

  “Oxen also are not ideal in the wilds compared to a mammoth. Arctic bears though. I mean… they’re bears. Having three already is a massive head start. A single female is two hundred cubes.”

  I grunted, looking to Hudson, and thinking we could probably sell the cubs. He shook his head. “We need hydrox, but boss. Last resort. Trust me. Those bears are going to be citizens of their own nature. A white bear preserve will help if we do go to war too. Not to mention, six hundred in cubes is nothing to a thriving city, and… Joana is not to be messed with at the moment.”

  “Who’s Joana?” Delila asked.

  “My Baroness,” I said and she pouted. “Hey, the good news is, in a few weeks we might have work for you.”

  “You mean, I could be a stable manager!?” she asked, sticking her
face in mine with big doe eyes. Her talk became rapid. “I have a six in husbandry for the mammoth. No skill for the arctic bears. The fee is simply too high. I was wanting to unlock stable management, maintenance, and orientation. My lack of those had me -”

  “Apply when we get home. Skills are free if you immigrate.”

  “Drat! I never thought about that. Why didn’t I stop there before,” she smacked her forehead.

  I fake smiled. “The arctic bears?”

  “Right, right. Right this way. Ugh. Now I’m nervous,” Delila said, puffing her cheeks to huff out.

  “Eh, don’t worry. You like robots and animals. Probably a good fit,” Hudson said with a chuckle, easing her souring. “Wow is this them.”

  There were three arctic bears as tall as me lounging in an enclosure. Through the glass I saw a pool, a feeding point, and a steambot cleaning up poop. The bears were huge and lazy. Their white coats shined as if recently cleaned.

  “These are our females. Two hundred each, and I can’t budge on that. The males are over here,” Delila said and Hudson shook his head. “She is the youngest, Pangea is her name.”

  She pointed to the smallest female in the front. We had Ben and Ren, and only Jen as a female. I wasn’t big on the math of breeding, but we’d need a male and a female at some point. I was super okay with having animals that I could take into the wilds.

  “Pangea is young. Her brother is over there with another male cub. The male cub was found by a local on a berry quest. He’s the only one that we have wiggle room on,” Delila said and I shook my head. “Alright, we’ll move on for the woolys.”

  We headed past cats, wolves, falcons, and even some gators. While I enjoyed gator meat, a gator farm did not appeal to me. However, going gator baby taming might be interesting. I had to imagine there was a whole section of adventurers who targeted species to tame the offspring.

  I saw Darden’s arctic oxen not far into the pens of cart animals. “How much for a pair of these?” I asked, stopping the progress.

  Delila said, “Arctic oxen are sturdier in the snows than their lighter coated cousins. They’ll do fine in the wilds if not attacked. Then they spook and are known to kill themselves trying to run away from whatever attack. A breeding couple... fifty or sixty. Older, just for working thirty to forty. You didn’t hear this from me, but getting them direct from Darden would be ideal because you're closer.”