“Will you just tell me what is on your mind?” she asked.
“I have been picking up chatter. The Beast Mountain Range’s beasts have been decreasing. People are able to get farther than ever before and they aren’t able to meet their quotas. It looks like the beasts have been thinned out to a large degree and a few of the stronger beasts that have been around for decades have disappeared. It will take time for their numbers to come back. People are going to start to ask more questions,” Aditya said.
“Your suggestion?” Jen asked.
“If you don’t want people looking into this deeper, less beasts should be killed. If not, people will start to look at the source of the issue,” Lord Aditya said.
“I will have a talk with my people.”
“Thank you.” Aditya cupped his hands.
“Well, I will leave you to your next meeting. With Head Silaz, is that right?”
“That is correct, Elan Silaz,” Aditya said.
Jen seemed to be lost in thought for a second. “Interesting. Well, until I see you again.” She turned and headed out. The guards, seeing the head of the Alva Healing House, bowed their heads to her. All of them had been healed by her or her staff.
“Have you been doing those exercises you were told to?” she asked one of the guards in a severe tone as the door she went through closed, making Lord Aditya smile.
Another door opened and a large man entered the room.
“Head Silaz!” Aditya said in greeting.
“Lord Aditya, thank you for making time to allow me to visit.” Elan smiled and held out his hand. The two of them shook hands before Aditya waved toward two couches.
“I heard that you have an important matter to discuss?” Aditya asked.
“I have recently been looking to advance my trades and make more acquaintances and trading partners. I heard of what Lord Aditya accomplished and I couldn’t help but be shocked.”
Aditya waved the comments away with a proud smile. “It was a simple matter.”
“Simple matter? Then I do not know what would be a big matter!” Silaz laughed.
Aditya smiled as well, but his eyes remained on Silaz, wondering what his angle was. “Your words are too kind, though I’m interested in what I might be able to help you with?”
“It is I who is looking to help you, Lord Aditya. With increasing the reach of my trading, I have been able to create a number of contacts that deal in the buying and selling of gold and Mana stones,” Silaz said casually.
Aditya’s attention tightened. Buying and selling Mana stones is not like a stroll in the garden. There is an incredible demand for them, but the supply is simply too low.
“I must applaud you, Head Silaz. Mana stones’ rarity is only too high in the First Realm,” Aditya said.
“They are but there is a number of monster cores that are going through this outpost and there are powerful people visiting all the time. I have an offer to put forth to you.” Silaz adjusted his jacket.
“Please.” Aditya’s senses told him that this deal’s ramifications could be big.
“Vermire is a powerful entity right now, a place of true neutrality—a rare thing to find in these turbulent times. I am proposing that the Silaz trading house, with your approval, set up an auction house within the city. A regional auction house, with items collected from all over to be sold here. There are a number of rare items that can only be found in the Beast Mountain Range, even weapons and armor from Experts who have tested themselves in the Beast Mountain Range and failed. Vermire is expanding and it would be good to make use of this. The Silaz trading house has secured a number of Mana stones. Our supply is not that vast, but it would increase interest of other parties to come,” Silaz said.
Aditya gave Silaz a deep look, his mind putting the pieces together. The Silaz trading houses—Mana stones would get people to come here and trade with them. At the same time, they have an auction that would sell high-quality items from across the realm and the Beast Mountain Range. This would be a good cover for me to sell items from my benefactors. Also, I can change money into Mana stones and increase my Strength and Mana Gathering Cultivation. Lord Aditya had a massive wealth now. The walls and the expansion were being paid for by him, but once that cost was removed, he would have a large amount of wealth coming in every day.
He might have become the lord of Vermire, but it didn’t mean he had given up on his goal of trying to advance his Strength.
“If I was to do this, what would you offer?”
“I have heard that Lord Aditya is looking for people who are willing to work but are unable to, or have been injured and dismissed from their previous work,” Silaz said.
Aditya made sure to hide his reaction as Silaz continued.
“I have a great number of contacts in many cities. I know that Lord Aditya’s reach is much greater than my own but I can help in these recruitment efforts. I have brought two hundred people with me who are at least Apprentice skill level in one craft, most of them in two or three. Though they have been disowned, cast out, or wounded and unable to complete their tasks. I would also pay for the construction of the auction house and I would charge a ten percent handling fee, taking five percent myself and paying the other five percent to you.”
“Seven percent would be better,” Aditya said.
“Or would you be interested to get the first opportunity to buy a Mana stone outright, at one thousand two hundred gold, with the price set at that amount?” Silaz asked.
“How many per month?”
Silaz let out a breath, looking at the ceiling. “I would say one Mana stone a month. More as time goes on.”
“For recruiting people?” Aditya asked.
“Three gold each for transportation here, or to any other location,” Silaz said.
Aditya looked at Silaz for a few tense moments, the two of them getting a grasp of the other.
“Very well. I will have a contract written up to that effect.” Aditya stood.
“A pleasure doing business with you,” Silaz said with a big smile and reached out his hand to Aditya.
They grasped hands, still trying to understand one another.
Aditya saw Elan out personally.
As he left in his carriage, Aditya returned to his office and took out his sound transmission device.
“Jen, we might have an issue,” he said.
***
Delilah called an emergency meeting with Jasper and Qin.
Jasper and Delilah were talking when Qin knocked on the door.
“Please come in,” Delilah said.
Qin opened the door.
“Council Leader Delilah, Deputy Head Jasper.” Qin bowed her head. She was only a few years younger than Delilah, but they were the council leader and head of the formations department. The people of Alva grew up quick and age wasn’t a big difference in power, there were people in the same class who might be ten years old or thirty.
“Please, come and sit,” Delilah said.
Qin moved to the seat.
“What is your father’s first name?” Delilah asked.
“Elan,” Qin said.
Delilah and Jasper shared a look.
Jasper let out a short laugh. “Well, your dad gave Lord Aditya quite the scare. It seems that he appeared in the city, and talked about recruiting people and he had an offer to sell him Mana stones and set up an auction hall.”
“I didn’t tell him about Alva, nor did my brothers. We did, however, suggest that he find more Mana stones to trade,” Qin admitted.
“I believe you.” Delilah fell back into her seat, not looking like the council leader of anything. “Jasper, you’re about as neutral as they come. Would you be willing to go and check on Vermire? At the same time, look into Elan Silaz. Just need a neutral outlook at him. I know he’s your father,” Delilah said, seeing Qin getting riled up. “But we’ve got an entire city of people to look after. I have to look at all of the angles. If he is clean, then we can bring him in on some sec
rets. If not, we will have to keep him at arm’s reach.”
Qin deflated in her seat. “I understand.”
Delilah smiled. It had been easier for her to bring her parents in on the secret that was Alva. They had come from another realm, given an oath, and they weren’t powerful or prominent people.
With the Silaz family, their brother and father were both large traders with a large amount of money at their disposal. It could be a blessing having him on their side, or a curse if they had to deal with the issues he created.
“I’ll head out right away. There isn’t much for me to do here except meetings and watch over the training programs anyway,” Jasper said.
“Thank you, Jasper,” Delilah said. “I should also tell you as you’re here that the mercenaries and the people who hunt in the Beast Mountains are starting to talk about how few beasts there are to hunt this year. I am going to talk to all of the council and the department heads about what we can do for this problem. The less beasts and the weaker they are, the more chances that people find us.”
“Be easier if we could just rear them like the mounts in the stables,” Qin thought aloud.
Delilah and Jasper looked at her then each other.
Jasper shrugged. “There’s not much that can defeat us in the First Realm now. We don’t want to kill them all off, only the ones that we need for materials and those materials are usually things that we can purchase or get from other places.”
Delilah made some notes. “Well, looks like I will be having a talk with the beast training department. I don’t know if it would be wrong for us to help the beasts here increase in numbers. They do kill people, after all.”
“They know the risks coming here. And the stronger or the rarer the beast, the more people will come to the area. Though if we just focus on helping the animal population, that should be enough to recreate the balance of the Beast Mountain Range ,since we were the ones that caused the imbalance to start with,” Jasper said.
***
“Morale is low with the hidden attacks. We still do not know where the enemy is hitting us from or how. We know that they bury items in the road and the roadside. When we find one of the explosives, even if we try to remove them, the enemy makes them explode and kills our powerful mages looking for them. They change the placement often, alter their depth so that it is harder for us to find them next time. The whistling explosives—we don’t know where they come from. But a plan has been raised to get the flying forces up in the air at night. Then there might be something that they can see in the surrounding area to pinpoint where the whistling devices are coming from. Once we discover them, we will attack them with everything that we have to destroy them and stop them from hitting us,” General Ulalas’s aide said.
There was agreement from everyone in the meeting. The generals all looked tired, many of them unable to sleep with the constant mortar’s attacks day and night. Ulalas could see that this fight was weighing on them. Dealing with an enemy they could see was one thing; an enemy that they couldn’t even find a shadow of, losing hundreds of soldiers without gaining any confirmation that they had hit one person—it eroded their morale and initial confidence.
Every night people disappeared, some said that they were killed by the people from Tareng.
What assassination groups packs up all of their belongings? They had lost two to three thousand people to desertion.
Oaths weren’t perfect, someone could find a way around them if they desired.
“We will continue to use the Mana barriers to cover us from the falling explosive formation devices and have rotating scouts moving off to the sides of our formation and looking for the buried devices. Better to lose a few instead of a thousand. We need to keep on moving. Say that we will give an Earth Mana stone to whoever kills thirty people from Tareng. Incentivize them to fight and remind them what the Blue Lotus will do if they try to escape. Make them affirm their oaths.” Ulalas stabbed her finger into the table with each of her points.
“Should we report our progress to the rest of the Blood Demon Sect?” Damel asked.
“I have been in contact with them this entire time. My silence order is still in effect. This matter is too big for us to have people randomly sending messages,” Ulalas said.
“Yes, General.” Damel cupped his hands and bowed, not wanting to offend the commander.
Ulalas looked at the other general’s out of the corner of her eye, the sour looks on their faces. They knew Damel was her right hand man and that she was doing this as a warning.
“Monitor all messages. Anyone who attempts to send messages will be seen as spies for the Blue Lotus or the Crafter’s Association and will be killed on the spot. Even a small slip-up will cost us this battle,” Ulalas said.
The Generals kept their emotions hidden, but she could feel the cold looks. They were losing the trust and strength of their armies grinding their way forward to hopefully catch the people from Tareng who they hadn’t seen since stepping on this road.
She dismissed the generals, sending them back to their armies with their orders and to reaffirm the army’s oaths to make it harder from them to deny orders.
She retired to the back of her carriage. Checking that there was no one around, she took out a formation that would block any noise from escaping her room then took out a sound talisman.
“The Blood Demon Sect’s army knows nothing. Communications are cut off. The enemy continues to flee down the road into unknown territory. Everything is going according to plan. The enemy has probably already sent a message to their leadership at this time.”
The sound talisman was consumed as her message was transmitted.
If one looks hard enough there is always a way to escape your oath. The ones that deserted are the smartest.
Chapter: Danger in the Night, Hell in the Day
Erik was in the observation post as he watched the army move forward. Their pace was a bit slower but one could hear the generals and commanders yelling at them to be faster.
Erik was using binoculars to look at the target zone. With the scouts that the army was putting out, it was hard to get within a kilometer of the main army. Still, at night, it was easy to see them moving up the road.
With their enhanced senses and the magnification on Erik and Rugrat’s weapon sights and binoculars, the forward observers were able to see the targets. They were trying to make copies of the sights and magnification but it was stuck with the people of the academy trying to make better glass and rebuilding the knowledge of optics from Erik and Rugrat’s faint recollections. Rugrat was much better, having dealt with a number of scopes, but the manufacturing processes to make a weapon sight he wasn’t too familiar with and was still under development.
Erik looked at the sweeping party moving through the blast zone and continuing on their way.
The army kept on moving, looking around them for ghosts they couldn’t see.
Erik moved his binoculars and looked at the planned road of death. It was still under construction, with everyone who was free working on it.
Then there was a noise in the sky.
Erik moved his binoculars. He could see a number of creatures in the air, silhouetted against the asteroid belt hanging in the sky.
“All forces, watch out for aerial attacks. Mortars, be ready for these guys to rush you,” Erik said.
“Understood. Countermeasures are deployed,” Yui reported.
“Very well.” Erik watched the army as it continued to move.
An IED went off, tearing the carriage above it to pieces. Three other charges exploded in the midst of the army around the same carriage.
The exploding carriage was the one that the generals had met in earlier that day. Erik meant it as a message to make them nervous, to show that they could hit them at any time. He had wanted to hit the carriage as it was moving but with those Mana barriers, mortars couldn’t get through and they didn’t have any IEDs near where it passed over.
It was also meant
to show that even with their mages looking through the ground, they couldn’t pick up the IEDs. It required a ton of mana and causing many to suffer the effects of mana exhaustion causing them to be rotated out all the time.
They had buried them so deep that Erik was using shaped charges to punch through the ground and still be effective. Instead of targeting the troops they targeted the wagons. They were a bigger target and the shaped targets were better against a single target instead of trying to cause massive casualties.
“OP Charlie bugging out,” Gong Jin reported as a new flood of Experience filled the members of Alva’s army.
“OP Alpha has visual. Ready for action,” Erik said into his sound transmission device.
“Mortars are online and dialed in,” Yui reported.
***
Ulalas ducked as she heard the whistling. Her heart stopped for a second before she looked around, becoming embarrassed and then angry as the Mana barriers were already activating to stop the explosives from hitting them.
A message came from her airborne forces.
“We think that we can see where the attacks are coming from. There are a series of bright flashes in the distance, about four kilometers away.”
“I don’t want you to tell me where they are! I want you to destroy them! Go and tear their fucking throats out!” Ulalas roared, ending the channel. She wanted to throw her sound transmission device in frustration. She took a few breaths, calming herself. She looked up at the flying beasts in the air above, flapping their wings. They shot toward the direction that they saw the light flashes from.
***
“Mortars, be advised, you’ve got fast-moving airborne coming in. Scramble to your next position and trap your first location,” Erik said. He had Yuli calling in the artillery while he kept an eye on the skies and Yao Meng watched the ground for the scouting forces.
“Mortars are mining and bugging out,” Yui reported.
“Scouts are moving out. We’ll have to get a move on in five,” Yao Meng said.
The Fourth Realm (The Ten Realms Book 4) Page 41