The Fourth Realm (The Ten Realms Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  “What?” Elan asked, caught off guard as Delilah looked at Rugrat.

  “You’ve got a good ability to gather information. We’ve been doing it with the traders, but they’re traders at the end of the day. Although they gather information, it is likely connected to the trades happening in the area. What I want is for you to become an intelligence officer, someone in charge of gathering information,” Rugrat said.

  “What would the specifics be?” Elan asked.

  “You would bribe, cultivate, and create sources across the realms. Your goal would be to root out the dangers that lie ahead of Alva. Find out who is looking at Alva, let us know if there is anyone trying to mess with our assets. Figure out what our enemies are doing. Get us information on the higher realms and their conflicts. We were able to get some information on the Fourth Realm and it allowed us to make a split second decision when we got there, to react and move. If we did not gather that previous information, we might have been drafted by the army of the city of Aberdeen, where we arrived in originally. There is an organization in the Fourth Realm called the Fighter’s Association—basically people who are nuts about getting stronger. They’ve got people all over the place, but they only take in the strongest one percent of any group. They’re the overlords of the fighting world. Arrogant, too. That is something that Blaze has to be ready and plan for if he advances into the Fourth Realm with the Adventurer’s Guild. We need information you can gather to be ready for that.”

  “What about the business?” he asked in mild irritation.

  “Well that is the decision. Wren is a good lad, if you take this position then you will not be allowed to control any trading company, well unless it is a cover for your people.”

  “What if I refuse?”

  “Then you would still be a person from Alva, you would be able to trade as you want, eventually rise in levels and strenght. You might even become the trading council leader if you really go for it. Though I would need to find a different intelligence officer. Someone to find out the dangers that lie in Domonos and Yui’s path,” Rugrat said.

  It is cruel, to involve his sons but he isn’t lying.

  “Are you threatening them?” Elan asked, his voice chilling.

  “Threaten them?” Rugrat frowned. “Domonos and Yui control the Tiger and Dragon Platoon, their authority within the military is second only to Glosil. I have trained with them for months, I have shed blood with them and fought beside them. I would never threaten them,” Rugrat’s words left no room for buts, what’s and ifs.

  “Your daughter teaches me about formations and is one of the chief designers of weapon systems in Alva. They have come under my command, they have become Alvans and I will wage a war against any that wrongfully kills one of our people. On that you have my word.”

  Delilah felt a thrill run through her body as she looked at Elan.

  “I am sorry for being rash, they are worth more to me than all of the wealth or power in the world,” Elan said.

  “I understand, this is a lot to take in. It would be a lot of work as well. You could recruit from the policing force and other areas of Alva, train them to create information networks, pull together our current information networks and organize them. On this point Erik and I can give you some pointers. It is because of your children’s positions and their loyalty that we are offering you this position,” Rugrat didn’t hide anything.

  “If you want me to gather informaiton from the other realms doesn’t that mean I’ll need to be a higher level?”

  “Yes it does, though we can power level you with resources and attaching you to some of our fighting forces to increase your level rapidly,” Rugrat said.

  Elan fell silent for some time but his eyes seemed to glow brighter each second.

  “Okay, I’ll do it,” Elan said.

  “Why?” Rugrat asked.

  “I have been running my business for years, Wren has gained back some of his humilty and I have been giving him more control recently. I want to see what he can do by himself. As you said Yui and Domonos are travelling through the realms and putting themselves in danger, if I can help them I will. I have wanted to see the realms, and this is one way to do it. I have been bored with business, but being able to know what is really happening, that still gives me a thrill. Now to see what is happening across the realms. To be part of a group that few knows about but has considerable power. I, well I’m excited. I don’t think that it will be easy, I think that it will be incredibly difficult, a number of sleepless nights lay ahead of me, but I would be the first person to do it. That has some power to it.”

  “You will be a secret aide to Delilah in the future. You will only report to Erik and myself. You will need to report to Delilah and Egbert and you will need to swear to a highly restrictive oath. You will have great power but if you abuse it…” The room grew cold as the air stilled. The Mana didn’t circulate, falling under Rugrat’s complete control. “We will have a problem.”

  “I understand. I will not let down the Silaz name.”

  Delilah felt that Alva was shifting. It was no longer a village, or just some secret group. They spanned over realms, had crafters of multiple professions, agreements with the Blue Lotus, Alchemist Association, traders and their chambers of commerce, Crafter’s Association, and possibly more in the future. They were small but the power on her shoulders seemed to grow heavier.

  Chapter: Crafter Dungeons

  Erik, Roska, Gong Jin, and Niemm were alone in the meeting room inside their castle in Vuzgal.

  Erik pulled out files and folders with locations and information filled inside them. “These are locations where I want you to create crafter trial feeder dungeons. I have included a set of plans for the feeder dungeons that you can use on the dungeon and the dungeon will build them for you.

  “I’m being watched by the Blue Lotus and the Crafter’s Association closely right now. I have listed down safe locations in each of the folders. When you are out making these feeder trials, gather information about other dungeons in different and remote locations. Check the situation in the cities controlling the dungeons. Check the difficulty of the dungeon and see if you can enter them for a fee. If the dungeons meet those criteria, upgrade them to feeders. I want you to all return to Alva in three weeks time. Set the crafter dungeons to finish up in five weeks, or when they’re complete after that if the dungeons need more time. You’ll probably be tailed initially. Jump through the locations listed in those documents. With inviting the navigators over, we’ve been able to confirm that these locations, although they might not be the best, they’re safe enough to use the totem to get in and out of. Use navigators to do multiple jumps and switch navigators up so you make it hard to be trailed if they’re questioned. Once you’re clear of observation, start getting to work on the dungeons. Questions?”

  “When do we head out?” Roska asked.

  “Over the next two days,” Erik said.

  “Do we get funds?” Niemm asked.

  Erik pulled out three storage rings and tossed them over. “There should be plenty in there to help you.”

  Niemm checked inside and nodded. “I’m thinking of splitting the team, Storbon and I are the only one with the dungeon master asbilities so we are the only ones that can call up the dungeon core.”

  “Agreed, though there might be people that control the dungeons, if someone else does, leave them alone,” Erik said.

  Niemm seemed to have more questions.

  “We have the ability there have to be others, the Alchemist Association use a dungeon as their garden, who knows about up here in the higher realms?”

  Niemm made a noise of agreement as Erik stood.

  “Oh, one thing I forgot to add. If you find any dungeons that people don’t know about, see if you can take them down and take the core. If we can upgrade and repair Alva’s dungeon core, that would be for the best. Even better if we can increase its size.”

  The others all made notes before Erik rapped the desk
with a knuckle. “Good hunting!”

  Erik went off to his next meeting. He headed out of the castle and to the Blue Lotus building. He was meeting with the overseeing head of the Blue Lotus Vuzgal location, a man by the name of Darius Tan.

  “I need to make a request. I’m not sure who to make it to.” Erik said as sipped his tea once the meeting started.

  “What kind of request?” Darius Tan questioned as he smiled.

  “I wish to employ Hiao Xen for a period of time to manage this city,” Erik explained.

  Darius frowned and fell into thought as Erik sat there, watching his expressions.

  Hiao Xen had proved himself to be trustworthy. He was also good at managing people. Erik wanted to make Vuzgal a success and although he had his plans in place, he didn’t know how to run and operate the city to its full capacity. He needed someone to do that for him.

  “I can certainly make the request to my seniors. He would need to agree with the request. I’m not sure if they would be willing to release him so easily from the Blue Lotus.”

  “I’m not asking for him to be released from the Blue Lotus, just to manage this place. But he would need to make an oath to be neutral in all dealings and that he could not reveal information I give him or on the dealings he has with me. I will not make him break faith or go against the rules of the Blue Lotus either,” Erik said.

  “I certainly haven’t heard of anything like that before, but given your position, again, I can only make the request,” Darius said apologetically.

  “That will be enough. Don’t worry, Vuzgal will soon get busy!”

  ***

  Egbert looked at the Ten Realms Totem that reached up into the upper reaches of the dungeon. It nearly touched his dungeon’s ceiling as it stood at the north point of the city.

  A number of people stood around; they had come to see the creation event. Even in just the one week since Rugrat had returned, there were more people coming to join Alva.

  He might be undead but it didn’t make him unfeeling. He found it hard to watch as the twenty-three members of the Alvan army were put to rest. He had been accepted into Alva as much as he had accepted them.

  “How we looking, Ivory?” Rugrat asked as he walked up.

  “Not bad, Hillbilly,” Egbert fired back, making Rugrat frown at the quick snipe.

  “Feeling all elbows and knees?” Rugrat asked.

  “You! When did you change my hips and my upper arms around! No wonder I felt like I got shorter and I was having troubles moving my arms! I only took a short time to recharge last night!”

  “These dungeons have eyes,” Rugrat chuckled.

  “Come on, just a bit more,” Egbert muttered, as he shifted his hands in his robe as he tried to pull his upper arm out of his hip joint to discreetly rearrange himself. “That’s not right,” he muttered. He jumped around on one leg, juggling some leg bones, some vertebrae and an upper arm bone.

  “Uh?” Rugrat grunted.

  Egbert looked up as everyone caught him in a rather suggestive pose: his hands inside his robe, with his upper arm bone poking at the lower part of his robe as he hopped around on one foot. The area around him turned quiet at his display.

  “This isn’t what it looks like. I’m just rearranging myself,” Egbert explained in a rushed voice.

  “Thought that you at least had to see a doctor to do that,” Rugrat quipped.

  “Shut up, will you?”

  “Well, you have that spell to rearrange, right?” Rugrat asked.

  “Yes, but I need to be in parts to do that, so—”

  “I can help with that!”

  Egbert felt a breeze beside him and he sensed Rugrat had moved. “Huh?”

  “Super slam!” Rugrat had his elbow out as he launched himself at Egbert, the elbow drop turning him into a pile of flying bones.

  “I can see my house from here,” Egbert’s head said as it bounced up into the sky. He cast his spell; his bones went back together, reforming his body as his robe wrapped around him in a dignified manner.

  Blaze coughed from the side. Elise stood beside him.

  “Shall we start this thing?” he asked, looking at the totem that had been assembled section by section.

  “Egbert?” Rugrat said, regaining some control over his voice.“Please let me know what you think of the books. Duty calls!”

  Egbert followed Rugrat as they went to the totem.

  They reached the bottom of the totem, people falling silent.

  “Egbert?” Rugrat asked, worried he had gone too far.

  Egbert cast the final fusing spell.

  The totem’s last sections were fused together. The runes on the totem lit up with power from the dungeon core.

  ==========

  You have added a special building: Ten Realms Totem

  ==========

  ==========

  Ten Realms Totem

  ==========

  With this building, you can cross the realms. People heading to higher realms for the first time will not have to pay a fee but will be sent randomly to locations in the higher realms they are eligible to join. One can travel from this totem to other totems they have used before. Costs are paid in Mana stones or monster cores as well as gold, silver, and copper.

  As the city owner, you will get 10% of the fee that one needs to pay to use the totem.

  ==========

  “Well, I think that it works.” Rugrat pushed the notification away.

  “Looks good to me too,” Egbert confirmed as he snapped the last loose bone into place.

  Rugrat pulled out an Earth Mana stone and selected the menu before anyone was able to say anything. He disappeared one second, then reappeared a few seconds later.

  “Well, folks, it looks like we’ve got a working totem!” Rugrat declared.

  People who had been stunned came out of it and others cheered.

  Having a totem was quite the achievement.

  The high tier workshops the common citizen didn’t really understand; they hadn’t seen them before. But they knew the strength that a Ten Realms Totem meant. It turned a village or town into a proper city. Only a place with a proper totem could be called a city and with it, a cities prosperity and wealth would grow by leaps and bounds.

  Chapter: The Great Trade

  Erik suddenly got a message when Rugrat appeared through the totem and then disappeared again.

  He smiled as he looked at the message: “Totem works, Egbert wants more lewdness”

  Erik rolled his eyes and smiled. With the totem, one of his biggest concerns was removed. Going through the totems of other cities in the First Realm was bound to alert some people to their presence. Now that they had a totem, their people could move easily from location to location across the realms without drawing suspicion. If there was a threat in one of the various realms, they could move people faster. Transportation was any power’s lifeblood, from Earth to the Ten Realms.

  “Now we need to power level some people. One group to collect the resources from the hidden dungeon when they’re needed; other groups to start trading and establish our own hold over Vuzgal. Once people find out about the hidden part of Bala Dungeon things are going to start to pick up. We have just two weeks to get ready for it.”

  Erik also got a response from the Blue Lotus. It seemed that the position of Honorary Elder wasn’t just all words, they would allow Hiao Xen to assist him for five years, if he agreed. Erik sent Hiao Xen a message and requested a meeting.

  ***

  Hiao Xen had heard some rumors from different friends, about how people in the higher parts of the Blue Lotus had been discussing him in connection with Vuzgal and Erik.

  He had ignored it but then Erik had requested a meeting. He also got a message from his friends saying that the Blue Lotus had approved Hiao Xen to cancel some of his obligations to the Blue Lotus.

  He was confused, but he trusted Erik and headed off to the meeting as soon as he could.

  Erik sat on a stump in a
courtyard, reading over reports as people from the Alvan army moved carriages out of the houses to around the totem and teleported them away.

  “Erik.” Hiao Xen made to bow.

  “Don’t worry about that,” Erik said. Even with his position in the eyes of the Blue Lotus, he still saw Hiao Xen as a friend, which made him feel closer to Erik. Many people upon getting a higher position would look down on the people they were once friends with.

  “I have a request to make of you. Would you like to be the lord of Vuzgal? I have talked to the Blue Lotus and they said that they would be able to agree to this, though only for a short period. If you call five years short. I wouldn’t make you go against them—well, unless they were pulling some shit and then I would deal with them. You would just have to treat everyone who is a resident or person of Vuzgal fairly,” Erik said.

  “I—”

  “Here is the contract. You don’t need to make a decision now. Take some time to look it over,” Erik offered.

  It will take time for this place to be built up. Erik could take his time, retire here. Though the Erik I know would want to keep on going. Sure, he would use this place as a stop but he wouldn’t see it as his primary responsibility. If he did, then he would have settled down in Taeman city, where he could have used our relationship to gain a high position. Though if he wants to keep this place, just what is his long term goal?

  “What is your goal? These prices rival what one would need to pay in the larger neutral cities but you are only selling about five percent of the available housing, why so little? There is war going on to the East and the Chaotic lands will need more than just a new place to trade with. You need a population, more traders, incentives, there aren’t many here,” Hiao Xen said, pushing past his normal reserved façade.