Blood Shaper

Book 3: Chapter 26

Meeting and getting a read on the recommended person to take over as Avalon’s new treasurer or whatever name they decided to quote Eleniah had taken a lot less time than Kay had thought it would. Mister Cyrus Aventi was an older human man, and more than that, he actually looked old, which was a first for Kay. Almost everyone he had met in Torotia looked young or middle-aged at the oldest. Cyrus looked like an old man. He was bald on top, with a ring of pure white hair around the sides of his head that looked kind of like a descended halo and a long white beard. He’d seen Kay’s curiosity and had given him a short explanation. Apparently, if someone remains at tier one for a long enough period of time, they age like normal, if at a slower than normal rate. Cyrus didn’t volunteer why he’d done that; he’d just said that he had a difficult childhood. The man’s obvious reluctance about the topic made Kay leave it alone.

The man was also intensely interested in becoming part of Avalon. By the time Kay got there, he’d already made a list of various ways they could improve the village’s economy. When he heard that they only had a half-baked shambles of one set up so far, with most jobs getting paid in food and shelter and only some using real currency, he was literally agog. Then he started lecturing Kay about the right way to do things while they transitioned to a real economy. That somehow transitioned into a different lecture about why they should start selling land now and how it wasn’t smart for a noble to own all the land and rent it out like feudalism. That lecture went on for some time, and Kay only understood about two-thirds of either of them once Cyrus started talking about detailed economic principles he’d never heard of. Some of them he was pretty sure Earth had never heard of.

Kay asked why he was coming to a new village in the wilderness to get a job, which he was pretty sure he was going to have to ask every single person he wanted to recruit for a while. In the beginning, it would be to see if they had problems trailing them, and later it would be to weed out anyone trying to suck up to him. Cyrus’ answer was straightforward.

“I want a good tier five Class!” He’d exclaimed loudly, “Not those prearranged ones the Banking Guild knows! That’s where my last job was, at one of their branches. And they push everyone towards one of ‘their’ tier five Classes. But I don’t want that! I want something better for myself! So, when I heard about a job as a treasurer for a new village… well, villages grow into towns and towns grow into cities.” He winked at Kay, “And sometimes cities get even bigger than that. And getting some levels in a Class that might end up being something like Royal Treasurer…? That sounds like a way to get a good tier five!” He’d stopped talking, and Kay had thought he was done until a moment later when he sheepishly admitted, “And my wife told me to. Said it would be a better idea than wasting away in a job I didn’t really like that much. She said I’d be happier helping a new place get their money straight when everything gets off the ground than dealing with fussy merchants and stuck-up nobles and their stupid loans all day.” He’d brightened up and pointed around with his cane, “And she was right! Only been here a day, and there’s so much to do!” He’d started walking off, chattering at a million miles an hour about something to do with a good balance of roads to move good or something, with Kay and Meten hurrying behind him, trying to get him headed back towards the main square.

Cyrus had easily agreed to sign all the Agreements and contracts they could think of, so Kay had officially hired him after eventually getting him to stop wandering around muttering plans to himself and actually sign the Agreements they had lined up.

“Do we have anything else on the agenda for today?” Kay asked after Cyrus had signed all the necessary paperwork and walked out, gleefully muttering to himself about various possibilities.

“Everything important has been covered,” Amanda answered, “If you want, we can deal with the rest later.”

Kay pushed back from the table and headed towards the door, “Good. I was getting close with some of my experimenting, so I want to get back to that.”

Eleniah followed him as everyone else split up to handle various tasks, relax, or do whatever else they planned to do. “Mind if I come?” She asked.

“Do you really want to? I’m just going to be staring at a puddle of blood for a few hours. Probably. Maybe I’ll get it to work this time.”

“What are you trying to do?”

“I got a hint from the title when I made a leg for Tyuah, so I was working on that, and I think I’m getting close to some kind of golem Skill. I’ve been making bodies out of blood and trying to animate them. I keep getting that sense that I’m on the right track, but I’m not really sure what I’m missing…” Kay zoned out a little as he walked, going over everything he’d tried so far.

Eleniah’s hand tightened around his wrist as she drew him back next to her. “Kay, Golemancy is its own Skill and Class tree.”

He glanced over with his brows furrowed. “… Then what am I building towards? Because I’m definitely getting the vibe from my title that this is a Class I can get.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s something new.”

“That’d be cool. I really want to get back to testing now.”

“Where’s Murunel, by the way?”

“She said she wanted to go explore,” Kay pointed towards the rest of the village, “She said she’d meet us back at our place when she’s done.”

“Alright.”

Kay’s thoughts drifted from his Skill and Class-based experiments to something he’d just said. “By the way, when are you going to get a place of your own? I wouldn’t think you’d want to keep rooming with me now that we’re expanding.”

Eleniah let out a snort and gave him an arch look. “What do you mean ‘when am I moving out’? You’re the one we’re going to have to build some kind of palace for.”

Kay groaned and facepalmed. “Shit. I’m so not looking forward to that.”

“What, you don’t want a giant, fancily decorated building just for you?” She smirked. “I’m so surprised to hear that.”

“Yeah, yeah, keep the sarcasm train going. It’s going to be a giant pain in my ass and expensive too.”

Eleniah’s expression grew serious, “You know we have to, though, right?”

“Yeah.” He made a resigned face, “I get all the reasons, both morale-wise and politically. I just don’t want to.” He sighed and shrugged. “Oh well. I’m not always going to get what I want. I’m going to insist that once we get big enough, it becomes a government building too, and not just my residence.”

“Since you’re in charge, we should probably insist that you don’t always get what you want. That’s a good idea, though, so I guess I’ll let you have it.”

Kay shook his head and chuckled.

“I was thinking, if we start the building the palace, or whatever we end up calling it, near the spot where we put my new training area, we could connect it into one complex. It would-” He suddenly had to jump to the side to keep from slamming into someone in front of him. It felt like the large person had suddenly appeared in front of them without a sound.

The large man took a few steps back and held up his hands. “Sorry about that!”

“Uh, sorry.” Kay looked up at the man with a frown. “Didn’t mean to bump into you.”

“It’s no problem! People do it all the time! I must be surprisingly stealthy.” The man replied cheerfully with a big grin on his face. “Say, you wouldn’t happen to be the Mayor of this village? The man named Kay?”

Kay inched a little farther away from the stranger. “… Yeah, that’s me.” His eyes narrowed as he looked over the man suspiciously.

The man was a large human with shaggy, dark red hair and a thick beard of the same color. He was almost as tall as Darten was and similarly covered in muscles, with massive shoulders and defined muscles bulging from underneath his long-sleeved shirt. “My name’s Kolm Davidson.” He held out his massive hand to shake. “I’d like to talk to you about some business.”

Kay warily reached out and shook the man’s hand. “Nice to meet you…”

Kolm continued like he didn’t notice Kay’s suspicion. Either that or he didn’t care. “I run a number of taverns and eateries all over the place. I like to check out new settlements when they pop up, and if I think there’s a good market, I’ll start a new one to add to my holdings. I was wondering if I could buy some land from you to start construction.”

“You want to start a business here?” Kay asked, some of his apprehension fading.

“Technically, I’d be expanding my business, but yes, I’d like to open a tavern here. Later if there’s demand and a niche, I’ll probably open a higher-end restaurant as well, but that’s for later.” He smiled down at them with a disarming grin. “What do you say?”

“Sadly, we’re not really set up to sell land to anyone,” Kay told him. “We’re still getting our plans laid out on the economic side. We’ll probably have everything laid out and start to put up lots for sale in about a week or so.” That was the minimum amount of time Cyrus had said it would take.

“Oh? What kind of plans do you have? Are you going to go the feudal style and own everything or do something else?”

Kay started to explain their plans, which, like the rest of what he’d thought of, resembled the American system from his homeworld. People could own land, but the government could as well, and taxes would need to be paid. He wasn’t looking forward to discussing what specific kinds of taxes there would be or what the percentages they’d implement, but he knew there had to be some kind of taxes. Kay told Kolm about Cyrus and his experience when the man asked about what kind of people he had working for him. The man was a great listener and had some good ideas or comments to add as they talked. He was about to move on to another topic; Kolm had said something that was a good segway when suddenly there was a stinging pain on the back of his neck as something cut him.

“Ow!” Kay smacked his neck and pulled his hand back, a line of blood that he’d already sensed sticking to his palm. “What just cut me?”

“You alright?” Kolm asked.

Kay glanced up to reply and saw Kolm’s smiling face looking down at him with an expression of mild worry. He opened his mouth, then completely froze.

Why the fuck did I just tell him all of that!? Most of that was secret!

Kay leapt away from Kolm as he let blood flow over himself, covering him in his armor and forming a halberd in his right hand. He landed in a defensive position with his halberd ready. “What did you just do to me?”

Kolm’s expression was a study of confusion as he took one step back and raised his hands over his head. “What did I do? We were just talking!”

Kay saw Eleniah off to the opposite side, her fists up as she glared at Kolm. If it came to a fight, she’d flank him.

“I don’t know who you’re a spy for, but we’ll find out. I suggest you surrender.” Kay told him as he started edging closer.

“What? I’m not a spy! Why would you think-” Kolm suddenly stopped talking in mid-sentence. “Ah dammit.” He said in an exasperated voice. “I did it again, didn’t I?” His eyes darted to the side, and his expression turned into one Kay was quickly growing to recognize as he dealt with more and more people on a regular basis. It was the expression of someone looking at one of their status pages.

“Shit.” The large man’s shoulders slumped as he turned to stare at the floor sadly. “Sorry about that. One of my Classes if from the Bartender Line. I have a passive skill from it that makes people want to talk to me. I forgot to turn it off again.”

A quiet voice suddenly spoke up right next to Kay’s ear. “That’s possible.” Kay recognized it as Isla’s voice. “I know for a fact that that’s a real Skill he’s talking about, and none of my Skills or personal experience say he’s lying. Be very careful, though. The higher tier you are in general, the more natural resistance you have against that kind of skill, and you personally have even more just from having a Noble Class. If he isn’t lying, he’s very high tier.”

Kay knew he was listening to advice from his new spymaster, but Kolm didn’t. To him, it looked like Kay was just skeptically staring at him. “Look, I’ll prove it! I swear to the World that I’m telling the truth, and I mean you no harm.”

[Kolm Davidson is speaking the truth. He is not a spy. He does possess a Class of the Bartender Line. He does possess a Skill from the Bartender Line that makes it more likely for others to speak to him without inhibition. He did forget to turn it off. He does not mean you harm.]

Kay slowly lowered his weapon and eased out of the tense stance he was in. He melted his helmet down into the rest of his armor but kept the armor and his halberd out. “… Alright.”

“Oh, thank goodness.” Kolm sagged in place and let out a sigh of obvious relief. “I really didn’t want to get in a fight today.”

Kay stared at him with narrow eyes as he thought. “… Once we’re ready to start selling plots of land, you can discuss buying one with us. There will also be rules, regulations, and taxes implemented for businesses once we have a comprehensive plan drawn up.”

Kolm nodded deep enough that it was almost a short bow. “Thank you. I’ll be around to discuss it once it’s time.” He backed away without turning away for a short distance before walking off.

Kay watched him go.

Eleniah walked over next to him and watched as well. “What the fuck?”

Isla suddenly appeared, hovering over Kay’s shoulder. “That is a concerning man.”

“Thoughts?” Kay asked her without looking away from Kolm’s receding back.

“Tier seven, minimum. He might even be a tier eight.”

“What!?” Eleniah whipped her head to stare at the sprite. “There’s no way!”

“He almost overwhelmed my defenses against that kind of Skill. I have more than one, and several of them are specialized against that kind of influence. He almost got past them, and he wasn’t even talking to me.” Isla replied harshly. “There’s no way he’s only a tier higher than me.”

Kay used a bit of mana to send the little drops of blood leaking from the cut on his neck back into his body, infused with healing energy as they went. “Did you cut me?”

“Yes.” She pulled a small curved sword seemingly out of midair. “When I realized what was happening, I knew I needed to snap you out of it. Pain is the most sure-fire way of making people realize what’s happening in those kinds of situations.”

“Thanks.”

“I am happy to serve, sir. And damn happy I was already following him around.”

“Why were you?” Eleniah asked. “I mean, I agree with Kay; good job, but why follow him?”

She waved in the direction of the gates. “He got into town right after I signed all the Agreements and went to go look for places to hide stashes and do dead drops. I saw him come in all by himself, no guards or other travelers, and got curious. The first thing he did after making it into the village was ask where you were. So I followed him.”

“Good job,” Kay repeated. “But why were you working? I thought you were going to work on getting yourself settled.”

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. Most of what’s being built is stone, and you have Mages and Manipulators doing most of the work. You’re really lucky to have them, by the way. Who’s the Mage or Manipulator that you trust the most?”

“Darten,” Kay answered immediately. “He’s one of the first five people of Avalon.”

“Oh? Who are the rest?”

Kay ticked them off on his fingers. “Me, Eleniah, Darten, Meten, and Murunel.”

“So, you trust this Darten? With your life and secrets?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I’m going to ask him to build me a secret home hidden somewhere in the stone of the area. That way, I won’t have to worry as much about spying or assassination when I’m home.”

“Damn,” Kay muttered, “That’s not even something I thought of.”

Isla laughed. “That’s why you hired me. I have even more ideas for hiding important buildings and places, but we can discuss that later.”

“Um,” Eleniah held up her hand, “Isn’t that something you shouldn’t be talking about in public?”

“Don’t worry, I’m covering up our conversation. Anyone who walks by is just seeing and hearing the two of you talk about Mister Kolm Davidson.” She glanced over her shoulder and frowned. “Drat, people are walking over. If they get too close, they’ll walk through the illusion. I’d like to stay hidden as long as possible.” She vanished, and her voice came from the spot she was just in. “I’ll go and find this Darten fellow and see if he’s free to talk to me.”

“Isla?”

“Sir?”

“Keep an eye on Kolm. And make sure his business is watched if he does set one up here.”

“Oh, don’t worry, sir.” Her face hardened into steel as she briefly reappeared to look him in the eyes. “I will definitely do both of those.”

“Good.”

She flew off, invisible, and Kay took a moment to reassure the few people that had seen Kay suddenly draw a weapon on someone. After the last person went back to their day, Kay started jogging in the direction of his training setup.

“What’s the hurry?” Eleniah asked as she kept pace with him.

“I just got a rude awakening about how much stronger I need to be if we’re going to keep everyone safe.”

Eleniah gave him a worried look but kept quiet as they jogged.

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