B6 Chapter 649: An Accounting of Dues, pt. 3

Kaius blanched. The duke gave him a wolfish grin, and wrapped a heavy ring on the table.

“No artefact is perfect. My meeting table is a very expensive and concealed piece of artifice. It’s foiled more than a few attempts on mine and my family's lives. I can see the wind changing. Greed almost brought my House to its knees once, and I will not let it happen again. Julian mentioned academies of some sort — a measure to democratise might, while retaining the power that matters. He will spearhead this as my heir, the four of you will lean on our name, and later publicly back this project, and my House will be secured.”

There was no hint of a question in the duke’s tone, and as Kaius shared looks with his team he struggled to find a reason to disagree.

“You’re naming me heir?” Julian asked, dropping his fork.

“Have any of your siblings allied themselves with Silvers who can go toe to toe with High Golds? Don’t ask silly questions, it’s unbecoming.”

“What’s to stop these ‘academies’ from being yet another tool to entrench those of means,” Ianmus asked pointedly. “Mystral academies are nominally accessible, yet scholarships are vanishingly few in number.”

Cedric waved him off. “Details. A test of some sort — mayhap merging something off the guild list in a sufficiently difficult time span. You forget my gambit is predicated on the four of you becoming strong enough that a Peak Platinum would not dare to displease you.”

Kaius took a slow breath and took his time to chew through another piece of dragon. It was a hard offer to ignore — but somehow he couldn’t help but feel there was something he was overlooking. There had to be some catch or scheme, there always was. And yet, every bit of altruism that had come out of the duke's mouth was built on a rationale that was so undeniably selfish and self-serving that it could only be noble.

“Gods’ blood, I can’t believe I'm actually thinking about this,” Kaius said through his bond.

“Seems straightforward to me.”

“It’s just so…mercenary.”

“Does it really matter?”

Kaius bit back a sigh. “I suppose not.”

“What about the Wellspring?” Kenva asked. “That is far too valuable of a prize to hoard without worrying about half of Vaastivar contemplating invasion.”

“We’re going to retain control, obviously,” Julian replied, still smiling slightly at being named heir. “But we’ll auction a quarter of our slots off, administered by the guild. They’ll get another quarter, to distribute as they see fit.”

“A final quarter will be used for the Baanswell academy, for the highest performers — though it will likely be a year or two before it opens. I’ll be sending word to Guilewind in the next few days to begin organising,” the duke added.

The wind changed, gusting up and over the balcony. It brought with it the mingled scent of a thousand different blooms as Cedric leaned back in his chair and took another idle bite of his dragon steak. How in the hells could he so casually discuss topics that would irrevocably change the face of his duchy forever?

“We’ve gotten sidetracked again,” Cedric said. “We were supposed to be talking about rewards, not schools. Regardless of your own reasons for getting involved, the fact you saved my heir, brought low a dragon that could well have wrought havoc across my duchy, identified an Adamant hazard, and secured a Place of Power is no small thing.”

Flicking his wrist, the duke summoned a folded page to hand and passed it over. “I’ve taken the liberty of increasing your payout to five percent above assessed value for the carcass, and authorised our artisans to pull from my private vaults for the other materials needed for your gear.”

Kaius took the page gingerly. It was thick, with a subtle-off cream colour and a sturdiness that held up in his grip. He unfolded it and froze.

That was a very large number.

The paper quivered in his hand — solely due to the breeze.

Kaius passed the page along, staring down at his plate as Kenva snatched it eagerly from his grip. Half of his steak was gone, and a pool of pink juice was slowly pooling. Still hot enough to steam, the rich scent of herbs and potent magic wafted over him. It smelled like way too much gods’ damned money.

A bark of laughter came from his right as Kenva saw for herself, followed by a shocked grunt from Porkchop. Then it was Ianmus’s turn.

“Seven hundred thousand!” the mage exclaimed. “This is just for our half?”

“Sans the blood, head, heart, and the hide you used,” Julian replied, watching them with a raised eyebrow. “I’m not sure why you are so surprised. Draconic materials do not grow on trees, and they are very large.”

Kaius gingerly cut a slice of his steak.

NovelPhoenix publishes the author's chapter for readers, while this version was reproduced without their permission.

“I will file the payment with the guild after we are finished — but expect it to take a week to clear,” the duke said.

Kaius could barely taste his mouthful. He wondered if it would be cheaper to eat solid gold.

“How in the hells do you even store that much money,” Porkchop wondered.

“Higher value denominations of mythril and celestine, usually,” Kenva replied with an eager grin. “Not really our problem thanks to the Guild, though.”

“There’s more, of course — that is just for the dragon,” the duke said. “We still need to discuss that sap. My contracted alchemist is confident he will be able to brew a great number of potent restoratives and regenerative tonics from it.”

Whether by practice or simple persistence, the duke dragged them out of their daze. Quickly, dove into a discussion of the tonics Kaius and his team were in need of, and set to haggling over what the duke would be willing to part with for the reagent.

Simple coin didn’t enter into the equation even once. The matter of their liquid wealth had been resolved for quite a while. What mattered now was access. At their level, usable materials, consumables, and artefacts were not easy to find or purchase, even if you had the coin. Securing potentially life saving tonics mattered far more than another wagonfull of silver.

In a quick back and forth, Kenva managed to secure them quite the bounty. Five limb regenerating tonics to replace the once Ianmus had consumed that would work at thrice the pace; five stamina, mana and health restoratives each from the same batch of Mercature tonics that Julian had shared with them at the Wellspring, and perhaps most importantly, four Blessed Revival tonics. Each was a potent life line, a tonic that would directly rejuvenate and repair injuries rapidly. If one of them was struck down with a mortal wound that would kill them faster than health could repair, they need simply down the tonic — though it would not restore any of the resource itself.

Chewing through his last bite, Kaius looked at his sauce smeared plate in mourning. If he weren’t quite literally dining with a duke, he would have licked it clean.

**Ding! You have eaten a Meal: Butter-braised Wyrm Steak!**

Kaius jolted at the sudden notification. It had entirely slipped his mind that cooking classes could impart lingering enhancements when working with the right materials. Of course a dragon steak would be enough. A quick scan showed him the effect was mild — a small and simple enhancement to his physical vigour — but it seemed like it might last days.

The duke laughed.

“First time?”

“Yeah,” Kaius replied.

“It’s a shame it needs to be fresh,” Julian said, finishing his own plate. “Otherwise they’d be great for battle. I have yet to meet a suitable chef who likes a life on the saddle, though.”

“Before we finish, I have one more thing I would like to offer,” Cedric said.

Waving his hand, the duke summoned a heavily engraved scroll case to the table. As thick as Kaius’s fist and a stride long, the burnished silver cylinder was covered in a dense pattern of overlapping swirls. Miniscule runes were etched into the grooves of the carvings, half hidden by the darker black recesses. At least, they were to his normal vision. In his mana sight, they burned with indigo and violet fire. Kaius blinked, wondering what it was. His curiosity only increased when he saw there were metal loops three quarters of the way up the scrollcase. Clearly, it was meant to be threaded onto a belt to hang vertically at the waist.

“The Vault, Father?” Julian questioned, looking at the case with surprise. “Isn’t that an heirloom?”

“One that has lain fallow. We both know it’s more of an art-piece when we have a dozen rings that do the same thing.”

“What is it?” Porkchop questioned.

Kaius was damn sure he knew what it was, but he didn’t want to hold out hope.

“We were just discussing that some things are hard to obtain, even when you have the money. Good storage artefacts are one of those things. I’m willing to sell this to you at cost for three hundred thousand.”

“Father, you always said the House practically robbed the estate that sold it to us! It has to be worth five times that!”

Kaius raised his brow at Julian. For a man who was so happy to be their friend, he sure was protesting an awful lot.

“What?” Julian said when he caught his look. “It’s an heirloom!”

“And the offer remains regardless,” Cedric replied. “A testament to our new friendship. What better way to announce it than to display it on your hip? Besides, it still pales as a statement when hanging next to a landyacht.”

The duke pushed the artefact to their side of the table. Kaius looked over to his friends. Porkchop needed no convincing, and Ianmus was giving the case a curious look. Kenva, however, had the distant look of someone reading a notification. She blinked it away and snapped to him, nodding emphatically.

“We’ll take it!” he said, before he pulled up its description to see for himself.

Voidvault of Xelros:

Heroic - Tier II

My life’s work leads me beyond the bounds of the familiar, to horizons unknown. No more progress can be made from within these labyrinthine confines of ancient vellum, ink, and quiet contemplation. I have been at this precipice for some time, always stymied by a simple truth: an academic yearns for the comforting confines of a study, and requires a wealth of wisdom to draw upon. I do believe that the Black Sea Hall has provided me with a rather adroit solution.

A scroll case milled from a solid block of warp argentium, with an interior inlay of spatially attuned precious metals and high purity powdered mana condensate. Contains a spatial bubble with a diameter of 6.5 longstrides that may be used to store non-living and non-spatially-enchanted objects.

Due to dimensional distortion, only the raw volume of stored objects affects capacity. Due to the nature of its construction, objects must be stored and retrieved from the open aperture of the scroll case. Objects up to the third tier are placed in true stasis.

Spatial reinforcement grants the artefact resistance to damage.Due to the enchantments, the Voidvault of Xelros will slowly regenerate from its largest remaining piece after catastrophic damage, though it will be vulnerable to complete destruction until repaired, and all stored objects will be lost. Once keyed to a user’s aura, they may key the Voidvault to additional users.

Depths-wrought Artefact.

Auxiliary Equipment (Dimensional Scroll Case)

Dimensional Container X, Stasis III, Spatially Reinforced II, Regenerating I, Aura Key I