"Why the long faces?" Sylvester strolled into the large tent and saw Cardinal Smeaton and his officers looking depressed and devastated.
Thud!
They dropped to their knees and saluted him.
'Scent of hope, and at the same time anger? What did I do to them?' Sylvester noticed the mix of smells and tried to deduce what had happened. 'Did I overwork them?'
"Your Holiness, I ask for forgiveness," Cardinal Smeaton bellowed like a dying rooster. "We tried our best, but despite that, we came across some people who didn't understand the language of kindness; Who did not understand the value of this project; Whose greed is such that even the demons would feel ashamed."
'Ah, the anger is directed to someone else?' Sylvester realized and calmed down.
"Speak clearly, Cardinal. What is the matter?"
"The Brownland Construction Guild is trying to extort money from us, Your Holiness. They are refusing to work while knowing our urgency. They want to renegotiate the contract and increase their fee for the whole project. This is heretic behavior, going back on their word because they smell more gold," Cardinal Smeaton explained with real hatred in his voice.
Sylvester scoffed and walked over to take a seat beside the table. "That's it? Haven't you read the contract, Cardinal Smeaton?"
Feeling he had made a mistake, Cardinal Smeaton apologetically shook his head. "Forgive me, Your Holiness. I have not read it yet."
"You don't need to. It's the guilds who should read it as thoroughly as possible. It's not just a sheet of paper but a contract bound by the law. Holy Land's commerce department under the Saint Keymaster handles these contracts, which are made on a template I designed. In clear words, it's written that if the Guild renegades on the contract, they will have to pay back ten times the price fixed for them.
"If they don't have that much wealth, then all their personal properties will be seized, and they will be forced to share a part of their salary for the rest of their lives, no matter where they work, until the money is paid in full," Sylvester clarified to everyone, giving them some refreshing space to breathe. "The Holy Land is the backer of these contracts, Cardinal. They can't extort money from us."
Thud!
"Your Eminence, Smeaton. Guildmaster Brandon of the Brownland Construction Guild has arrived," the guards at the door announced.
Sylvester amusedly smiled. "Is that him?"
"Y-Yes, Your Holiness."
"Let him in."
Cardinal Smeaton knew something entertaining was about to happen. He quickly gestured to his assistant, and the guards allowed the guildmaster to enter. It was a tall man, an Archwizard with superior Earth Elemental abilities. One of the victims of the changing landscape, as the need for warrior wizards and knights had reduced significantly, and the monopoly on violence was in the hands of the Church.
"You know what I want, Cardinal Smeaton. You're wasting your time if you didn't invite me to negotiate." The burly man walked in with the pride of an Archwizard. In the old times, an Archwizard could easily be considered a Count-level noble if in service of a Kingdom. Similarly, this man also had that air, and his clothes were a testament to that.
Cardinal Smeaton acted calmly and greeted him. "Welcome, Guildmaster Brandon. I invited you so you may greet His Holiness, the Holy Sovereign of the land we all live on."
Guildmaster Brandon silently sneered at the Cardinal when he heard the mention of the Pope. He had noticed the new man and already guessed it to be him. 'Smeaton, you slimy old fox.'
"Ah, I greet His Holiness with all my heart."
Sylvester nodded and stayed seated, arms folded and facial expressions unchanging. "I heard you have grown the seed of greed in your heart. What did you do before starting the Construction Guild?"
Brandon clenched his teeth, knowing that the man before him was like a God. No matter what he believed in, the others followed the Pope. And the Pope's power was a fact, not a speculation. 'Why is he meddling in something so small? Isn't the Church rich enough to simply throw money at problems to solve them?'
That's what the world was like before. It was Brandon's own mistake of not noticing the change in the air.
He smiled ingratiatingly and weakly answered. "I… I was in the service of Duke Grimton, Your Holiness."
"Why were you let go?"
"With the end of nobility, Duke Grimton reduced his soldiers and experts. More than half of us were let go, and the ones he trusted the most, and who had served him the longest, were kept." Brandon answered straightforwardly, "I formed this Guild after being let go."
"He didn't trust you then?" Sylvester commented, and Brandon couldn't refute it. "Returning to the part about the contract. Why do you think I would agree to renegotiate? Did you not read it before signing it? Let's say you truly miscalculated and accepted the project for less money, but isn't that your own mistake? Does your word hold no honor?"
Brandon looked down, speechless. "I… I have to think about my workers, Your Holiness."
"I can smell your lie from a continent away," Sylvester refuted. "It is you who realized the wealth that can be generated by the trains from the example in South River State. You thought this work was worth more than what you were being paid and allowed your greed to guide you. Never realizing that this single railway line is merely one of the thousands more that will be developed in the short years to come."
"No!" Brandon realized his folly.
However, Sylvester had no mercy. But of course, he wasn't going to kill the man just for that. "You allowed your greed to ruin your Guild's relations with the Church, the one spending the most on these projects."
"Please, I apologize, Your Holiness. I will resume the work right away."
"Congratulations, Guildmaster Brandon. You have now blacklisted your Guild from being employed by the Holy Land for the next fifty years. Someone who can't even honor a legally binding contract is not worth working with." Sylvester ignored his pleading. "As for the work, you better resume it and finish it by the deadline, or else, the contract will be considered breached, and you will have to pay back ten times the amount paid to you."
Thud!
"N-No… Please." Brandon fell to his knees to plead. "I knowingly did it, Your Holiness. Yes, I was greedy, and I have learned my lesson. This won't happen aga—"
"It wasn't a lesson, Brandon." Sylvester rose to his feet. "It was setting an example to all those who are brave enough to scheme the same."
Ke-chak!
A light flashed, and a Clergyman took a picture.
Sylvester scoffed and focused on the Cardinal. "Word of what happened here will be spread around Sol through the papers. As for this railway track, we don't need the Guild anymore. Cardinal Smeaton, focus on the next project."
"But what about this one, Your Holiness? This is the longest route, and it connects the Holy Land to Miraj City, the second Holy Land," The Cardinal asked, wondering if he was also being punished by being thrown off the project.
Sylvester smiled and patted the old man's shoulder. "I'll build this railway line by myself."
"What of my workers?!" Guildmaster Brandon, still on the floor, asked.
Sylvester shrugged and felt no pity. "Well, you aren't the only one running a Construction Guild. In fact, the demand for workers is rising, and these guilds are competing with one another to expand. I'm sure they'll be delighted to take your burden away."
Brandon could only grit his teeth and remain on the floor. At last, he learned the lesson, a true reminder of why Duke Grimton had let him go despite being an Archwizard. This was an injury inflicted by himself, there was no doubt about it.
"How will you make the railway line alone, Your Holiness?" Cardinal Smeaton asked.
Sylvester stretched his neck and cracked his knuckles. "Magic, of course. Pass my order quickly, and store as many tracks as possible in this storage yard. I shall go and prepare the land first, lay the track beds, and set the sleepers."
He walked out of the tent and slowly walked up into the sky. He raised his hands around and felt the magic in his body and the air, the abundance of solarium all around him, giving him a sense of all that was there. Electromagnetism was also a core component for this one, and he felt it intensely.
"Be quick!" he ordered and kicked his feet, generating a blasting echo before vanishing from the sky. Cardinal Smeaton stayed still for a few moments and then ran around like a maniac, giving orders.
…
"This is brilliant!" Sylvester bellowed while running in the air. His two hands remained spread wide, and palms facing downward on the passing ground underneath. "What a perfectly fruitful training exercise. The Creation and Destruction magic is much easier to deal with when it's just one element."
Woosh!
Anyone who saw it with their own eyes was left speechless. They all fell to their knees and began praying to Solis. The miracle was beyond one's understanding, be it a wizard, Clergyman, or a commoner.
With great speed, Sylvester ran. Right under him, things formed out of thin air. High, plain, and orderly hills of track beds appeared, made of crushed stone. Then, right on top of them, at equal intervals and with precise placement, the railroad sleepers were placed, looking like blocks of concrete.
At a speed faster than imaginable, he covered a distance that would have taken the normal construction team months. Within a few hours, he came close to reaching Miraj City, delayed because, at places, he had to build bridges, viaducts, and tunnels. But it was exciting to work away from the office.
Before anyone knew it, he returned to the storage yard and noticed piles upon piles of metal tracks stored there.
"Leave this to me," Sylvester ordered them, and all of the metallic tracks followed behind him, hovering in the air. The quantity was so much that even the strongest of the wizards there felt weak before this seemingly non-violent act of magic.
Clank!
Clank!
Clank!
The metal tracks fell into their places on their own, and the screws fell in the holes at the same time, tightening themselves. The speed was slower this time as he had to be mindful of many things, but there was no doubt that he was faster than any Construction Guild possible. This was the speed of a Supreme Wizard.
Clank!
Clank!
Sadly, although he hoped to finish laying the whole track that day, he ran out of metal tracks to lay. So, he returned to the storage yard and barely found any change there.
"I've laid the base of the tracks all the way to Miraj City and the tracks till Maximilian City's second bridge. I'll need more tracks, as many as you can, to finish this railway line by the night," Sylvester ordered Cardinal Smeaton.
Thud!
"Your Holiness!" Cardinal Smeaton, surprisingly, fell to his knees and prayed. "We will take it from here, Your Holiness. Have mercy on the poor souls here… we have hired many local people as well, and they will lose their chance to work and earn if you finish it so quickly."
"..."
'Ah, I overdid it.' Sylvester realized what he had just done out of boredom. As a Supreme Wizard, he didn't even sweat despite using so much magic. 'Has my upper limit increased because of evolution with Nehilius?'
Suffering from success, Sylvester sighed and agreed. "I understand, Cardinal. Compensate the people you hired with the fee for the whole project. I was merely trying to show you what can be done with magic, and how delays coming from people who can use magic sound like nothing but excuses."
Cardinal Smeaton hung his head low in shame. "I beg your forgiveness, Your Holiness. This incident shall not repeat again."
"I hope so."
With that, Sylvester kicked his feet and jumped toward the direction of the Holy Land. His little break was over once again, and it was time to sit at the desk and stare at thousands of documents. Thankfully, nobody seemed to have noticed his disappearance as he found his office as it was before his escape.
'Even Chonky went home.' He sighed and sat down again. 'The things I do for peace.'
Knock! Knock!
"It's Saint Seer, Your Holiness," Anya informed.
'Lazark?' Sylvester was surprised as the spymaster never visited him unless something serious happened.
"Let him in."
Quickly, in his usual dark, oversized robes, Cardinal Lazark entered and saluted. "May the Holy Light enlighten us… and the Central Continent."
"What happened there?" Sylvester loved the man's to-the-point attitude.
Right away, Lazark placed a parchment on the table. "It came from one of my newly placed contacts in the Central Continent. We finally know why the four kingdoms have always been at war with each other."
"Isn't it because of the Soul Tree?"
"Yes, but," Lazark pointed at the third line on the parchment. "The tree seems to be corrupted by demonic energy."
"What!?" Sylvester jumped to his feet. "That makes no sense. Soul Trees are Solarium generators, and Solarium is a natural deterrent to demonic energies."
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