The earth mage Strin and his son Timmy were waiting for me to hold court. I finished off Bella's plate real quick, kissed Velia goodbye for now, and left to the second floor. There was no fancy call out of my title and name when I entered. I went to the chair that former Count Winter had pissed himself in a few days ago and tossed it to the side. The thing reeked of pee. I then grabbed one of the wives' chairs and loudly placed it up front. I made sure there were only three chairs behind me as Bella took the first chair and Pipi took the third. I kissed both their hands making them blush.
I waved for mage Strin to come before me with his son. “Earth mage Strin I find myself needing a ruler for my latest conquest. I do not know many people here, and a few I thought were worthy stuck a sword through my chest. I am at an impasse. Either I plead to you to rule this place and make an effort to see it not starve. Or I say not my problem, leave it to King Devon and maybe he can magically save the people from starving.”
Strin's facial expression resolved. Somewhere among my words, he had made a decision. “If I do bear this mantle, it will be to save the guiltless souls of my home city. What support can we expect from you if we recognize your annexation and defer to your leadership? If you are approaching me, a simple bookshop owner to run this city things must be dire.”
“Indeed they are, you are out of food, the only thing keeping this city going was imports from King Devon which slowed last month and this month stopped altogether. My first wife Bella will go over the details after our meeting. Inform the people you are trading access to the griffins and my men in exchange for work. This work will be paid for in food or gold. That is the ideal scenario for me. Rents will no longer be collected. My men will have priority for hunting the golems, outside of that I expect the population to set traps, bait fishing lines, and actively hunt. If I can, I will send any animals I can find to help bolster your stables. Things will get worse before they get better but the truth needs to be told to the people of Malvia. You may starve unless drastic measure are taken or I manage to send a surplus of food. You will need to figure out who you can trust to help run this city in my absence, I will not return often once I leave. I have three villages to maintain and am in the process of turning one into a city.” I told Strin. The man nodded and did a bow.
When he left Bella went with him. Hopefully, the two of them could implement some measures to save the city. I somehow hoped that the people would understand. The reality was once the food distribution stopped, and dining halls stopped serving it would be too late. It did not help that I recently killed a Horde patrol, which might stir the local orcs up and bring them out of their settlements. In how much force was unknown but any amount prohibited hunting, trapping, and fishing.
The real hope for Malvia was my gold, if I could find enough excess food to buy to tide this place over for this winter, it should recover next year. Unfortunately for them, it depended on if I could find it, and if I was willing to part with the gold. This place served a purpose, as long as it generated income.
I gave a heavy sigh and rubbed my scruffy face. I felt how the back of my neck had grown out of control. “I need a shave and a haircut,” I muttered.
“Well Gryff, we can go to the bathhouse where I can pamper you and give you a cut and a shave. Or you can slay some golems, and maybe take me up on my offer later.” Pipi said from behind my chair in her seat. I waved her forward and when her hand neared mine I yanked her into my lap.
“You know precisely how to entice a man, offer him pleasure or offer him blood. I will take both. You and me naked after I slay a few golems. Reserve the bathhouse and have food set aside. Maybe some fruit if the manor has any left in stock. Tell Bella while I am gone to order the extra smelons to come here. We will hand smelons out to those who need them. After we will hire workers to plant the seeds on every spare inch inside and outside the barrier. Go, my beautiful wife, I shall think fondly of you naked while I am away.”
Pipi giggled and exited the Count's courtroom. It was my courtroom now, so the Earl's courtroom. I sat in silence letting the headache this city had brought to me try to fade away. It did not, my blood boiled for combat, and my body lusted for Pipi.
“Nate!” I called to get the man ready to go up the plateau.
∞∞∞
The upper platform was covered in torches providing a surplus of light as the sun set. I watched the city of Malvia illuminate below as it battled the darkness. Large fires raged in the orc settlement to the south, and another fainter light glowed to the east. That one must have been where the warg riders had come from. The only other illumination was the lava to the southwest of our makeshift camp. The moon remained hidden from us and provided no help with seeing.
The landing up here was surprisingly large. I wanted to walk to the barrier and find the exact location, but it extended so far up here there were golems before it ended. I was not limited by the peace accord rules, so I had my entire team up here and six griffins. We figured since the golems were a neutral party to the accords they could freely move in and out of the barrier.
Nate, Donnie, Marcus, and both Brads were suiting up for hauling parts. Half the new mercenaries were donning protective gear also. I kept four off to the side for swapping when someone became tired and in case I needed another runner for distraction. Kyle was my puller but since they were here inside the barrier I handled that for now. The fire mages stood ready with empty torches, cask barrels, and vials that were empty waiting to be filled. They had set up a table for chopping the hearts up and organizing the final products. There was a large pot almost like a cauldron with some acidic water in it. A new water mage we hired managed this. The golem shell skin would go in there and with a bit of time, some acid, and two spells the lava rocks were made. The six griffins were doing their semi nap thing. They were on moving stuff detail, I figured having them kill golems may end up with them flinging thousand plus pounds of rocky humanoid into buildings down below. They told me they could kill the golems but Smasha would be more effective. They would exert too much energy for it to be worth the food intake when other griffins were starving. Everyone was a bit grumpy that we were working into the night but I let them stew in it.
There was no inspirational speech or a reminder of the gold we were making. It was simply a group of determined men ready to get to work. I figured everyone got the morning off so a late-night would be fine. As long as I did not get hurt and need healing I hoped to be right back here at sunrise tomorrow. Knowing my luck the golems would manage to injure me somehow.
I looked to see everyone was at least partly ready and proceeded off the soft dirt to the rocky black terrain. The flicker of the torchlight provided me with enough vision but I knew I might have issues later.
“Kyle, grab a torch, stay behind me by at least a dozen feet. These golems can lunge quickly. Your job is to simply hold two torches so I have extra light. If it ends up that you keep getting in the way or I have to run to save you we will change it up. Hurry up, I see one coming.”
There was a challenging roar and the golem shook the ground with its slow jog. I turned and drew him onto the soft ground. It followed but stopped a few steps into the dirt. That was as far as it was willing to let me lead it. I charged with all my speed and shoved Smasha's ruby tip into its chest. The armor shell popped open and the first golem of the night died.
“Hey anyone know if these things have a sex, or are there simply stages of evolution? Oh and are the eyes worth anything?” I asked finally remembering about the darn eyes. I tended to focus on the loot of our kills, but not the actual coffers in my treasury.
Krix got to the answer before any others could chime in. “Correct there is no he or she to these. They start as a bulb, which requires heat and darkness. Then they hatch and eat cooling lava in its earliest solidified form. There are bacteria that fuel the creature's growth. As they grow by eating they reach a maximum height or adulthood. The tallest recording is over twelve feet tall. Once they
achieve this point they start to grow the bulbs in random places on their body, those bulbs then drop from their bodies. The population is controlled in two ways, farming like you see now. But the largest cause of death is the bulbs being placed too far from the heat of the lava. Those are the ones that die quickly and never develop into much. Voles love the bulbs that are closest to hatching, so that is why they are only found by the lava. Of course when you have an overpopulation from lack of hunting like we do now they go further and further south into the old lake that is filling. After this hunting trip, it will only take a few weeks for the densely populated areas to push into here bringing the numbers right back up. In all my studies I have never heard of any population of lava golems dying off besides when the volcano goes dormant. Then there is zero lava and no bacteria causing an area extinction.
“The eyes are nothing fancy, simply a red lens with golem goo behind it. It may hold some value but I am not sure where or how.” Krix said while he unsuccessfully tried to find an eye lens.
Helpful, it at least did not make me feel bad for killing the dozen I had so far from the last two days. Or the thousands I had planned. While he had explained all that to me the salvage team was breaking apart the golem. I saw them drag the parts over to a section for processing and the fire mages went to work. It was like we had started a small assembly line, a very morbid one.
I waved Kyle to follow me for light and pulled another two golems. I took them down easily after bringing them into the dirt. I was feeling good and excited, the men were shaking off their overworked gloom while the griffins slept. Seemed fair.
The night progressed in the rinse and repeat fashion. I would find a golem or two and occasionally three. I dragged them to the soft soil that they found so uncomfortable and then murdered them easily. They never lunged with speed outside the black rocky terrain. They always did a slow horizontal swing, and it was pathetic.
By hour two, or what I figured was that much time I had run out of room to keep killing on the dirt. My arms were a bit fatigued and I knew it was a good time to call a break. I told everyone to take five.
“We got what sixty or so killed tonight, and we are backed up by what forty? How you recommend we proceed from here?” I asked Nate.
“We break for the evening and go to bed. Rise early and focus on processing these. Hire more help for sure, we have plenty of room to increase our manpower. The fire mages are keeping up on the torches, vials, and wooden casks of golem blood goo. Our bottleneck is the lava rocks. There is only one pot turning the shells into lava rocks and that is a pain for us. It is supposed to be a long process though, no one chain kills these things. So with that said, let that part take months. It will be worth the effort and keep some people here busy. We pile the dead that have been stripped of the goo and hearts north and south of here inside the barrier. As long as we keep the space where you kill them cleared we can keep going with no issues.” Nate said.
I thought about it and agreed. “So the changes for tomorrow is more people for moving the excess shells. Fresh kills get drained and then hearts removed. After that, we pile the parts. Seems efficient. How many torches did they bring that were ready for hearts?” I asked.
“The earth mages on Malvia have been creating a collection for years.” Nate took off his apron and gloves. “It was a big reason some moved here in the first place. To make the special torches that could handle the golem hearts. We have a few hundred ready, and they can make more with the pines we drop. It takes aura to mold them, then some of the goo applied to where the heart goes to protect the wood. That should not be a supply problem, it again goes to the lava stones, which are a want for us in Fernlan anyway, and we only need a few to heat the bathhouse and some of the larger buildings. When winter strikes if these bodies are processed into small stones we can keep some alive that would have died from the cold by heating homes. We got a few months before the snows fall, and food will be an issue before the cold. For here at least.”
I made the call out to the men that we were done for the night. Tomorrow we could sleep in and resume the slaughter after the first meal. I mentioned to find extra help if they could and that I was willing to pay a fair wage. Then I told them of the new method we were going to try to avoid the pileup in my killing area. It went over well and the griffins rose from their slumber to take us down.
I returned to my room and dropped off Smasha, I did leave my armor on though. I grabbed Pipi and we made our way to the bathhouse. She told me she had reserved a separate noble room, and that when she told the griffins of my intent they guarded the building. I could relax and enjoy my time. On our way in one of the new griffins said he hoped it was a boy.
I chuckled as did Pipi at this. Then she got serious for a moment. Unlike my other wives, she wanted things to stabilize before she had another child. The struggles she had with Vern during the war and starvation after still haunted her. She did say I could cum where ever I wanted though as long as there was a cleaning cloth nearby. Or in this case water. I was washed down, massaged, my face shaved, and my hair cut. It was very refreshing to have no itchy beard. The smooth feeling on the back of my neck allowed me to grin; her shaving alleviated that annoyance I had when hair overgrew there.
Pipi was looking much better than the first time I had seen her naked. Her boobs swelled, her hips were widened and I no longer saw her ribs.
To me she was smoking hot, while I found the others beautiful and charming in their own ways, Pipi had them beat in sheer looks. Her sharp features, gorgeous smile, and those hazel eyes. The woman was a ten and she knew it but was still a humble person. I knew she could not run a city or manage politics, but that was okay. I also knew with time she would learn as much as the others and help ease the burden of managing so much. I also enjoyed her company. It took us over an hour to get to sex simply because I did not want to stop talking.
My desire to have her naked body won out and we fucked like champions. We took it slow at the start and it lasted for a long while. When I was about to cum she reminded me not inside. Then she told me anywhere meant her face if I wanted and she would even tell me how she loved it there. She titled her head back and closed her eyes in anticipation. I do not know why that turned me on so much but it did. I stroked my cock to completion and spurted for her face. My load was thick and went over her closed eyes, some up her nose, in her hair and a string hung from her ear. After the fact, I giggled, like a teenage boy.
I got a friendly slap on my abs for that. I handed her a wet rag which she blindly grabbed and freed her eyes of my sperm. I figured we were done until she grinned and gulped my softening cock into her mouth for a final sensational cleaning. I was thoroughly satisfied and felt that after sex tiredness so we headed for bed. Griffins escorted us to the manor and we made it safely.
When we got to bed Bella was already curled up and asleep. I got naked and slid in behind her making her my little spoon. Pipi took out a nighty from her bag that made me want her again. I had to stop glancing at her over my shoulder so I could actually get some sleep. I felt Pipi snuggle in behind me and I drifted off.
CHAPTER 14
I had the same recurring nightmare of endless pain, this time I forced myself to wake easily. It was getting better and I was happy about that. I saw Pipi and Bella drinking tea together in the lounger. Pipi was recounting the tale of my sperm all over her face. Bella cupped a hand over her mouth in reaction and they both giggled. Pipi noticed I was no longer sleeping and pointed to a plate at the end table.
“Dear husband I want to have your babies! No face cum for me please, even if I am pregnant...” Bella said.
Both Pipi and I had a laugh at this. I ate fast and looked for another plate. There was none.
“I worked with Strin, you actually need to do the sword on both shoulders thing to make him a Baron. I arranged that for tomorrow before dinner in the Earl's courtroom. After that, you will need to say you give him the manor and the responsibilities that go
with it. That will make him the ruling noble of Malvia at your request. Strin has a firm grasp on what is happening and is working on increasing food production. Smelons should get here from Fernlan midday and I will ensure they get planted by some hired farmworkers. Hmm... What else, father sent word he is visiting today. Velia should be there to greet him. I would not be surprised if he comes here when he learns I am not at home. He did always thrill for combat and this would be right up his ally of what he considers fun. Oh, and the King, King Horus has sent a squire for you. One of his sons. A nice lad named Rodriq. Tall for his age, and well mannered. Fourteen I believe. Donnie has been updating him on how you operate out of the norm. I heard him regaling tales of combat that had the young man frightened. Boys and bragging about sticking their swords in things!” Bella said and then playfully slapped Pipi's thigh.
Bella asked for Pipi to help get me in my armor. It was filthy from last night and I should have washed it in the bathhouse. It was sticky and gross putting it on but I knew I was going back to the grind. The heat would work to lose anything that had clumped. Fully armored in my light kit, I grabbed Smasha and went to find my new squire.
The young man was outside doing sword drills with Donnie, his sword work was far more impressive than mine. Nate watched over them and pointed a few things out. I had them stop and introduced myself. Rodriq was the sixth surviving son of King Horus. He was tall for a fourteen year old at almost five foot five. I stood there and asked him about his back story and what he wanted from his time as my squire. The lad was into court, capital fashion, and politics. He was sharp and articulate yet timid with no backbone. It could be his age, or that he was into men. I was completely okay with his disposition. I chose not to judge, same as I always had, I wanted people to be happy. Yet this was not going to work for me because I was no simple court noble. I was Earl Gryff, the insane guy who fought anything that moved. The noble that got into fights more than I ate meals some days, and I ate a lot. Rodriq never once mentioned wanting to be a warrior or hero. He would fit perfectly here as a squire for soon to be Baron Strin.
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