The Fourth Realm (The Ten Realms Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  “They’ve been training so much that they haven’t had time to see girls. But there are a few who have tried to get me to introduce them. Few of them are able to build up the courage—guess it is because I am a department head.” Qin sighed.

  She has had to grow up fast with her problems from before, but now, seeing her here, it looks like she’s finally found things to interest her. His pride in her ability and her temperament were something he couldn’t express in words. He only wanted to cry out how lucky he was and hug her tight.

  “This is our house,” Qin said as they reached a simple house looking over the park and on the edge of town, near the barracks and a short walk from the academy.

  “It looks great,” Elan said.

  Qin smiled and opened the door, leading him inside. Elan felt that the house was smaller than what they deserved but he knew that it had been a big move for them and he didn’t want to belittle their achievements.

  They stepped inside and he found that the house was warmer than outside. The layout was different, with large open spaces, making it feel airy and bright.

  Qin pressed on formations as lights turned on.

  “We had to make all of the formations in the house—for the ones to heat and cool the house, heat the water and to pump the water into the showers. We also made stovetops that have regulated heat, and cooling boxes that Erik and Rugrat call refrigerators. The water is clean to drink from the tap.” Qin quickly showed Elan around, showing off the different rooms.

  Although it looked simple on the outside, it had more amenities than their manor in Chonglu. He took back his original thoughts; the home might be smaller but functionality and form were combined together here.

  “What about the large home near the center of the city?”

  “That is the manor owned by Erik and Rugrat. It was left by the gnomes. It was where the master of the dungeon lived. Egbert looks after it now. Delilah lives there as the council leader of Alva. The large three-story building near the dungeon core is the government building. The adventurer’s building is next to the trading and warehouse district, with a number of bars there, too. I will take you to Jasper in the morning. He will need to talk to Delilah tonight and tomorrow they’ll have more information for you I’m sure,” Qin said.

  Silaz nodded. He knew that there would be limitations with him finding his children. Not knowing what those limitations would be was the hardest thing.

  ***

  “Well, what do we have to eat?” Elan asked his daughter.

  “I was able to get some food from the cafeteria. It’s soo good.” Qin moved to the kitchen and pulled out already prepared meals.

  “What about all of those cooking classes you went to?”

  “I can make some food, but not as good as the actual cooks. I don’t have time for that!”

  Elan sighed. She might be an adult, but she would always be his daughter.

  ***

  Elder Magnus tapped his fingers on the chair before he couldn’t take it any longer. He smacked the armrest and stood up, pacing.

  Elder Jalli looked up at him as he started pacing and then went back to reading the scroll in her hands.

  “Why has there been no word? Shouldn’t the Blue Lotus or the Crafter’s Association have attacked the Blood Demon Sect by now? They couldn’t still think that this is a plague. Even though our original plan didn’t work, the people of Tareng have had plenty of time to communicate with their higher-ups that they were under attack by the Blood Demons!” Elder Magnus threw his arms up into the air.

  “Patience, Elder Magnus. Once our plan is finished, then the Hang-Nim Alliance will be able to control the Blood Demon lands without issue. The Blue Lotus and the Crafter’s Association couldn’t let such a thing go easily. They are slow to act on anything.” Elder Jalli’s expression was passive as she continued to read the scroll in her hands.

  “Do you think that General Ulalas has turned?” Elder Magnus looked right at Jalli.

  Jalli looked at Magnus with an annoyed expression. “We wouldn’t have allowed this mission to go ahead if we didn’t have complete faith in Ulalas. She was meant to marry one of the sect’s higher echelon, but just as it was supposed to happen, they were married to another person from a different sect to increase the Blood Demon Sect’s ties.

  “Since then, she understood that the Blood Demon Sect has only been using her. She would not betray us, happily hurting the Blood Demon Sect. Even if she dies, she would only fight to hurt the Blood Demon Sect more.” Elder Jalli looked back to her scrolls as she murmured, “Beware a scorned woman’s wrath.”

  “You are right.” Magnus put his hands on the back of his chair and rested there, looking at the table.

  “We surround most of the Blood Demon Sect, but they might not even use us. The Blue Lotus army hasn’t even been heard of in generations. They’re something of a myth. Might need time to pull people together from other cities, group the guards together. That is probably it. We don’t know if the Blue Lotus army is a real thing.” Magnus laughed to himself and smacked the chair.

  “Would you be quieter? Some of us have other work we need to do.”

  Magnus rolled his eyes. He was an elder of the Red Sword sect. They were fighters who lived their lives on the edge of a blade. Their fighting art combined with Fire elemental magic to turn them into powerful magical swordsmen.

  They were more direct and forward, while the Nezzar sect were mainly mages and technical fighters. Their main attribute was their ability to work together to create powerful multi-mage spells quickly. Their teamwork and intelligence were high and robust.

  They were a powerful force; they were smart about luring their enemy into a trap instead of being drawn in themselves, giving them an aloof temperament.

  The two groups—who didn’t agree with one another—agreed that the Blood Demon Sect, the old monster in their backyard, was a greater threat and they had worked together, combining their forces to make up for the other’s weaknesses. There were some talking about making the alliance permanent with the victories that they had been able to pull off and the stability they had created. Being able to hold their ground in front of much older sects and groups in the Fourth Realm was a powerful thing.

  “I hate waiting,” Magnus said.

  “Go and swing your sword. The Blue Lotus and the Crafter’s Association will move when they want to. You talk of the Blue Lotus army, but you haven’t talked about the Crafter’s Association’s assassins. They’re a much bigger problem, so make sure that you keep your mouth shut. There is no knowing where they might be or who is listening,” Jalli warned.

  “I’ve got it.” Magnus waved his hand and left the hall.

  ***

  Elan woke early. Qin was still asleep. Even now, when she left home, it seemed her habit of sleeping in still hadn’t changed.

  He left the house and walked around. The ‘sun’ was appearing above the dungeon’s residents. People started to stir; many hadn’t gone to sleep, their Stamina at the point that they didn’t need to sleep for several days. There were children heading off to mandatory lessons at the elementary school in the residential area. Classes were starting in the academy; the workshops had people going in to work on their production. Stores opened their doors and those who had been working through the night or drinking until the early hours went back home to sleep it off or to the alchemists or healers to sober up.

  Elan took a closer look at the stores near the academy. They sold items for the residents of Alva and then items for the academy and food. There were stalls all over the place, selling food of different kinds. It was the closest stall to the back of the cooking workshop.

  Elan looked at the items for sale at the stalls, surprised by the large selection. There were simple items, to rare ores and materials that would be hard to find in the Second Realm. There were things that he had never seen before on display.

  There were some items that cost hundreds or even thousands of gold. Instead of bei
ng outraged at the prices, people came from the academy and bartered with them, using Mana stones or gold bars worth hundreds of gold to buy the displayed items.

  Elan got directions to the warehouse district from a vendor.

  He passed the Adventurer’s Guild. There were rough-looking people outside and inside, talking to one another, meeting up or heading out. A group of them met up with a trading caravan, greeting them and then heading out of Alva.

  Elan went to the trading district. He saw people writing on a large board. Trades were being completed in the thousands of gold. The area around a simple-looking building with the sign Trading House above it was the center of everyone’s attention. People ran in and out of the building. It had a roof, but there was only a formation in the middle with people on either side that would monitor one at a time on the formation before they had to leave and line back up again.

  There were a number of bars, restaurants, and tea houses around the area. A few that were open were filled with people waking up and those who were meeting up and completing their first deal of that morning.

  Elan stepped up to the line for the formation. He got to the front of the line. The two people looked at him, stopping him.

  “Name?”

  “Elan Silaz.” He realized that he might not be allowed access, or that he might not be registered. A dozen bad scenarios passed through his mind. Maybe I should have woken Qin’er up before I left.

  “Sounds familiar,” one said.

  “My sons are Domonos Silaz and Yui Silaz, and I have a daughter, Qin Silaz.”

  “You’ve got some powerful kids.” The other laughed and smiled, waving Elan forward.

  “Thank you,” Elan said.

  “You have ten minutes,” the man replied.

  Elan used the interface and was blown away with the information there.

  Is this a city trading interface? I thought only the rulers of a city and their own trading houses could gain access to this—it was how they’re able to amass so much wealth! Certainly no normal person would have this amount of materials or wealth to move!

  The more Elan looked through the pages, the greater his understanding became of the system and why people were looking to buy items from their fellow traders outside.

  Get the items locally for cheap, bundle them together and then sell them through the interface, or vice versa—buy a lot of items cheaply from the interface here and then sell it on to traders here who sell them in small lots across the local area. Or maybe in other realms? I heard someone talking about a shortage of wheat in the Second Realm and demand for water because of a drought moving in?

  Elan left the trading station and walked through the traders, getting more information from them by just listening to what they were saying.

  He headed out of the trader’s square and passed the Adventurer’s Guild. He stopped and then walked inside. He had been buying and selling to mercenaries for most of his adult life. The more he knew about the mercenaries of Alva, the more opportunities he would have to replicate his previous practices or adapt them.

  Once he entered the building, he saw stores and administration areas to the right. There were potions, weapons and armor available for sale. There were people who were passing out contracts or organizing them to be issued.

  A board was filled with jobs categorized from SSS down to F.

  People were examining the job board, going to the different tables, or they sat in the area to the left, which looked to be a pub area.

  There were also people who were talking about training coming through doors in the far back right.

  They’re strong. They range from level eight to level thirty, though they’re not chaotic like some mercenary groups. They look more organized.

  “Elan!” Jasper, who was walking through the Adventurer’s Guild, called out.

  He turned to find Jasper, who was walking out of a set of doors that led into the administration side of the building.

  “Jasper,” Elan said.

  “Come, let’s get a drink. Now that you’re a citizen of Alva, I can tell you a few more things,” Jasper said.

  They sat down in a corner of the pub.

  Jasper pulled out a piece of paper and gave it to Elan. “This is an information flyer from the Alva Bank. You can invest and save your money with them to be pulled out at a later date, or you can get loans from them. These are like the supporting payments that a lord will make to a trader, supporting them financially at the start and then getting a payment later on. Unlike with these lords, you can pay back a loan and then not owe anyone anything.

  There is a plan for the person with the money to pay back the lender as well as a percentage ontop of the loans total amount it is meant to help companies and people grow. I know that there are a number of merchants who use the loans to start and expand.

  “The Adventurer’s Guild is located in the higher realms. It acts as a hub for the people from Alva. A place for adventurers and traders to go and be safe. We also have some locations where there are smiths, alchemists, or tailors learning their craft in greater depth and they’ve taken over bars, inns, or other infrastructure. The people Aditya hires are vetted by us and then, if we think they’re a good fit, we offer them a place within Alva. With the academy and our connections to the higher realms, it isn’t hard for someone to increase their skill levels and move through the realms with less problems.”

  “Why in secret? Most sects broadcast that they have places in the higher realms. It brings in more promising recruits,” Elan asked.

  “What we’re looking for is not the people who are playing political poker with where they want to develop their skills. We want to help the people others have turned away. The people of Alva work together. They might compete with each other but with the laws, oaths, and police force, infighting isn’t allowed.

  “Sects can get more people, but the moral character of those people might range from not being the best to downright shitty. We won’t impede anyone trying to go to the higher realms. We’ll help them with the basics, but everything past that, they have to work for. Which is also why we select people with a drive to work. People can be educated, but we can’t teach them how to work.”

  “So if you have a Master in some skill, you wouldn’t take them if they weren’t willing to work and help others?” Elan asked. Such a thing was absurd. They were in the First Realm; knowing a Master in any skill would give even a massive sect a big step up.

  “Again, if they want to grow and advance, we’re for it. If they want to just milk us for benefits and allow us to say that they live here? We wouldn’t want that, that is not what we do here at Alva,” Jasper said.

  Elan fell into thought.

  “Look, we’re still growing, but I know that in the future Alva will birth many Masters in different skills. People can grow in multiple skills here. Want to be an armorer, a chef, and a tailor? You can do it! We allow people the freedom to make their own decisions. Such as trade,” Jasper said. “For the auction house in Vermire, take a fifteen percent commission. You can take five percent; Alva will take ten percent. The items that Aditya would have given you will come directly from us, making sure that you have high-quality goods to sell and draw others’ attention. You will be getting a five percent commission on all of the items that way, and a five percent on anything that others bring to the auction. We will pay for your people to find and recruit people for Alva, with a profit for you as well. We are trading in gold, monster cores, and Mana stones. The Mana stones are rare to find but they can be bought for one thousand gold. Gold is used the most in the First and Second Realm, with Mana stones appearing in the Second and the Third Realm. As such, most in the First Realm use coins instead of stones. Some people just trade in these and other basics to make a profit.”

  “What about Mana cornerstones?” Elan asked.

  “We do not have any of those for sale right now. We’re still looking to fill up our Mana gathering array above the dungeon core. Once it is fi
lled, then we will start replacing the Mortal Mana cornerstones with Earth Mana cornerstones, and then adding in Sky and so on,” Jasper said.

  “What about these loans?” Elan asked.

  “It would be easy to get five thousand gold in loans. Higher than that would be difficult,” Jasper said.

  Elan was floored. A single store of his might only make around two thousand gold in an entire year.

  “There is a bank located next to the government building outside of the dungeon core building—might be worth taking a look,” Jasper said.

  “Thanks for this information. But why tell me instead of letting me discover it for myself?”

  “Alva is built on crafters but funded by traders—two sides of the same coin. Without one, we wouldn’t have the other. Aditya has ears in different powerful countries, listening to the people in power. We have some people in the different trading spheres in the First Realm, but most of our traders head to the higher realms because of the greater profits. If you can increase your profits, increase the money flowing through Alva and the people we recruit, it is a win for us,” Jasper said.

  Elan fell quiet for a little bit. “I’ll have a look into it, but I do have one last question.” Elan looked at Jasper.

  “Shoot,” Jasper said.

  “Where are my sons?”

  “You’re a person of Alva now, so I guess it wouldn’t be bad to tell you.” Jasper turned serious. He sat forward, lacing his fingers together as he leaned on the table.

  “Right now, both Yui and Domonos are in the Fourth Realm, the battlefield realm, with the rest of the Alvan army—with Erik and Rugrat—to find other dungeons to improve Alva’s strength and temper the strength of the army. They left for the Fourth Realm almost a month ago.”

  Elan’s stomach dropped, before he controlled himself. “Is there a way to talk to them?”

  “You can send them a letter, they’re in the middle of a battle between two powerful forces,” Jasper’s tone was grim.

  Elan knew that he couldn’t hide everything from his children for their whole lives. It still made his stomach drop, learning that they were off in some foreign land, potentially fighting for their lives.