"Muller! It's good to see you again!"
The bulky builder shook the fat man's hand. It was fast becoming a code among those who had worked with Cato.
"Take a seat and allow me to serve some snacks and wine," Kalny walked out from behind his desk and gestured at the small tea table to the side. "Prepare a set number 1," he said to the maid waiting at the door. She bowed and left immediately.
"If you do this for every person who visits, it's not wonder you look like this," Muller commented, looking at Kalny's round body.
"Haha, you have to forgive my indulgences," Kalny laughed as they took their seats, "the canned food business is doing well, salt and sugar seem to work well as preservatives, it covers up the taste and you can imagine the damage that has on my waistline. "
Muller grinned, "doesn't change the fact they taste awful. And I think your waistline expands in proportion to your business. Nothing to do with your canning. "
"Ability to preserve wet food for months is worth the taste though," Kalny said, "I still have some bottled Choko from the very first batch that hasn't rotted. What about you? I've heard some unbelievable things about your iron bricks. "
"I've gained contracts to renovate city gates, build a house and a tower next to Tine river crossing. Ten floors. A vanity project. "
"Ten floors!" Kalny blinked in amazement, "How much stone are you hauling? Will I be looking at higher transport prices?"
"The latest batch of cement formula turned out well," Muller replied, "With cast iron reinforcement, the bricks and this new cement, the walls won't be any thicker than this table. The soil will need reinforcement too but the site is known for a shallow bedrock. "
The two men looked down at the wooden table, it was perhaps an arm's length across.
"Amazing isn't it?" Muller said, "what Cato has done. I wonder where he gets his ideas from?"
"Nowhere. He doesn't get them from anywhere. I'm very sure there's no such thing as a First artifact behind him. "
"But then how can one person change so many things?" Muller asked, "I could believe it if he thought of canned food or iron bricks, but not both at the same time! And that paper machine Razzi just finished! I hear Cato's building some kind of flying balloon in Minmay too. "
"Despite what Corbin wants to believe, I really don't think there is a First artifact. I think what he does can be understood," Kalny said, eyeing the display cabinet holding a rack of dusty glass bottles. Chokos, paka milk and other foodstuffs floated in them, free from rot despite the obvious age. "And what we can understand, we can do also," Kalny added.
The two merchants looked at the rack together, thinking of possibilities.
"But where to start? We can't think of any ideas like Cato does," Muller said.
"Think about the way Cato refines his ideas," Kalny said, "he recently asked me to collect samples from every type of plant I could access and send them to him. Presumably he's going to try looking for some property that makes the plant good for lining my tins to prevent the metal taste. "
"But how is he going to find that property? That is the main question. "
"I don't know how," Kalny admitted, "but I do know that he can't be doing anything too complicated. He did say that all the interesting 'chemical reactions', whatever those are, need better equipment. So I should be able to do the same as he does. Maybe try drying, boiling or fermenting them?"
"How is that going to help me? When I don't have anything to try?" Muller asked.
"I don't know either, but perhaps you can do the same thing," Kalny said, "try changing the way you make the cement? Maybe if you add different types of stone?"
"Maybe," Muller sounded unconvinced, "but I'll give it a try. "
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"I- I am waiting... await... your instructions. "
"I await your instructions. "
"You got here, both of you, good. "
"You are too kind. "
"I-"
"I don't expect you to think of me as kind, Piyo, as long as you remember what happens if you fail. "
"I un- understand. "
"We have all arrived here differently and seen many things, but there is no change to our roles. I will be the distraction, the obvious target. Reki will be the hidden knife, striking at their weakness. And Piyo, you will be the one moving unseen. "
"Yes Ra-"
"Don't use our real names! Idiot!"
"Yes! Sir... But can I... really do it? I- I can't imagine... how..."
"You will do it. You have no choice. "
"But- but, it's too much! This place... I can't..."
"Your family is quite well known among us you know? Who knows what could happen if I report that you refuse to play your part?"
"! I- I understand. "
"Will you do it?"
"I... will..."
"Good. Now, you, Reki, how is your part? "
"I cannot believe how undefended they are, sir. I could walk in and out ten times a day and not be caught even once. Tell me who and I will take their life, like taking the bobtail from a piyo. "
"Very good. Observe for now, refine your plans. When you see an important target, strike. Remember that Cato must not be killed. For him, capture if possible, otherwise leave him. "
"Understood. "
----------------------------------------
Polankal sat at her seat, trying to make the magic appear from her hands.
The young boy to her left was already trying to form a ball. She sneaked a peek at his magic, it was almost spherical already.
She sighed and concentrated again, a wisp of magic appeared as usual, but just the same, it died out and didn't return.
Just what was she doing wrong? Polankal sighed again.
"Having trouble?" Landar asked.
Polankal jumped out of her seat and hurriedly smoothed down her dress. "Uh, uh, yes. Um, I am fine," Polankal bowed.
"Doesn't look like it," Landar smiled, "here let me show you. "
She pushed Polankal back into her place on the brick bench and held out a hand. Polankal could feel a small stream of magic flowing out form Landar's finger.
"Please, don't trouble yourself with me," Polankal said. How could she accept this? A personal lesson from the leading alchemist? And an Iris at that? Surely Landar had more important things to do.
"It's fine, we are here to teach," Landar said, "or are you going to waste my magic by talking instead of practising?"
"Eek!" Polankal squeaked and turned back to her magic practice.
They were the slow ones. The few students who didn't seem to be able to use their magic after the mass lecture and demonstration. Those twelve people out of two hundred had been taken to a side room after the class for more focused teaching.
After the ministrations from the three alchemist teachers, all of them but Polankal had managed to at least create something like a ball.
Her latest attempt died out again and wouldn't return no matter how hard she concentrated. Polankal could almost cry in frustration. No wonder only the nobles studied magic, simple peasants like her would never be able to use it.
"Nonsense! There is no such thing!" Landar snapped, giving Polankal a light slap on the back of her head.
She must have said that out loud. Polankal looked up at the alchemist, feeling tears well up in her eyes.
Landar sighed and spoke more gently, "Don't give up so quickly, it's only been a day. "
"But but-" Polankal couldn't help but look at the other noble and merchant children sitting in the class. The slow learners were all without exception young children, except for her.
"Hmm," Landar frowned, tapping her finger to her lips as if remembering something, "Danine was the same, wasn't she?"
Then Landar ruffled Polankal's hair, examining the dark brown strands closely. What? What was she doing?
"Here, try this," Landar said finally, holding out a hand. There was no stream of magic coming out but there was a distinct feeling of something there. Something like magic but not quite. Polankal poked a finger through the space above Landar's hand curiously.
"Imagine this," Landar lectured, "you can feel your body without looking at it. You are aware of your body. When you move your fingers, that awareness moves with it, right? That is your magic. Now try to move that awareness without moving your body. "
This time it took Polankal less then five tries before something changed. She had managed to extend something out of her palm. It felt like she had somehow grown a phantom limb out of her hand. "I did it!" Polankal cried.
"Not yet," Landar cut off her excitement, "now remember that exercise we were teaching? Only don't push your magic out of your body, just let it flow out here, in one spot inside that area you extended. "
In the similar area above Landar's palm, a single bright dot of magic appeared, dispersing as soon as it was formed. But Landar continued to put out a small flow, keeping the spark alive.
And again, Polankal managed it quickly. The spark appeared and grew. Without prompting, she moved on to the next exercise, shaping the magic into a ball. it was so easy! Magic appeared, moving and taking shape like a hand she didn't know she had. She poured out her magic, keeping the ball alive despite the dispersion.
Without warning, the magic cut off. Polankal tried to look up at Landar to ask but she was suddenly too tired. Her whole body felt listless and heavy.
"You overexerted yourself," Landar sighed and muttered to herself, "come to think of it, Danine did that. And so did I when I learnt magic for the first time too. I wonder if that's common. "
Polankal couldn't respond to that, the crushing weight on her chest had grown until she couldn't hardly breathe, much less speak.
"You," Landar said down at Polankal sharply, "do you have Tsarian blood in your family?"
Her grandmother's brother had black hair, a throwback to some distant ancestor they said. But all she could do was nod.
"Interesting," Landar muttered again and walked away.
In slow motion, Polankal toppled from her seat to the floor, struggling to breathe from the backlash. Her whole body felt like it was burning up. The noble child sharing the bench with her leapt up and shouted something at the teachers but Landar didn't even look back, not even when Polankal tried to croak out a cry for help. As if she didn't hear anything, Landar walked out the door.
One of the other alchemists rushed over to her, laying Polankal down on the bench. "You'll be alright," the teacher said, his eyes reassuringly steady, "a little backlash won't kill you. "
Had she done something wrong? Something that offended Landar? Polankal felt the tears come again. Obviously she was so bad that she overused her magic on her very first success. Landar must have been disappointed.
The male teacher caught her eye as she looked painfully at the door. "Don't mind Landar," he said, sighing heavily, "she always gets that way when something catches her interest. It wouldn't kill her to be a little more sensitive but well, she wouldn't be Landar otherwise. "
Polankal looked up incredulously. So that was all just Landar being distracted!?
"Please forgive her," the teacher bowed. To her! That was the second time someone important had bowed to Polankal in her entire life. Incomprehensible, all of them. Landar most of all.
She sighed internally. I give up, this place is weird. With that thought, Polankal fainted dead away.
----------------------------------------
The man crouched in the alley, concealed behind empty barrels. His eyes scanned the street relentlessly.
There was a woman's laugh and the sound of approaching people. In the street outside, a woman and two men were walking along and chatting.
Completely defenseless.
"Now Landar, you should know that rye goes best with braid sticks!" one of the men laughed again, obviously tipsy. He munched down on a soggy vegetable stick.
"Your love of alcohol will kill you one day," Landar sighed, holding the man up with the help of a walking stick. The other man was holding a stick coated with Liquid light, illuminating the street as they walked down it.
The man squinted from his cover. Not completely defenseless after all, Landar was covered head to toe with a faintly magical barrier.
Useless, such a weak barrier was nothing before him.
The man crouched deeper, one hand drifting to the curved steel blade at his side. One heartbeat later, his hand flashed outwards, the blade snapping out of the scabbard for a mere instant before immediately returning to its sheath.
"Hoh," the man raised an eyebrow.
The man Landar was holding up screamed as his hand detached from his arm, blood spraying over the street. The moment of shock passed but the man noted how Landar's shield suddenly flashed to full power.
He stood up.
"Amazing," he said, walking out of the alley, ignoring the screaming alchemist, "I give you my compliments for surviving that attack. "
Landar snatched her gaze away from the bleeding stump and glared at him. She said slowly, a false calm in her voice, "I was part of an adventuring party once. Omal, take him and run!"
The alchemist holding the light snapped out of his shock and grabbed the screaming alchemist from Landar. Then the street broke out into screams and cries as the few remaining patrons in the night scrambled to get out of the way of the fight.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
With a presence of mind that surprised even the man, the alchemist dropped his light and used his belt to tourniquet the bleeding stump.
"What manner of blade is that?" Landar asked, "I've never seen a sword that could fire a cutting edge. "
The man smirked, "it's my sword after all. And no ordinary walking stick could super charge your shield so quickly. An iron staff, I'm guessing. Only that could have enough magic. "
"Omal, run! Now!" Landar hefted the staff, watching the severed hand slip down the stick onto the ground, "a blade that fires the closest thing to a Sword summon. And that speed. You must be Light's Edge. "
The man bowed in mock politeness, "indeed, the very man am I. I am honoured to be facing the Mad Alchemist herself. "
Landar sighed, watching the man in front of her warily as her companions ran away down the street. Neither Landar nor the man made any move, separated by a mere ten paces. "Why are you here?" Landar asked finally.
"To kill you and everyone who works with you," the man said simply.
The two of them acted immediately. There was a flash and another blade of magic cut deep into Landar's shield but failed to penetrate again. Landar herself lit up with enough magic to tear the street apart, blasting forwards in a stream as powerful as only an Iris could make it.
The man known as Light's Edge flashed to the side, the Em in his legs moving him faster than any human. Landar grunted and the stream bent around, the magic coiling in a wide circle around their entire battlefield. It closed in a full circle ending back at her, trapping him.
He eyed her warily, no Iris had that much control over their spells. But this was the Mad Alchemist after all, perhaps she was different. He readied his sword again then with a series of flashes, loosed a storm of magic targeting every limb and joint on her body, with the last six all targeting the same spot around her neck.
The magical force cut deep into thick aura of magic around her but the aura ate it all. Even the six cuts he tried to punch through with failed to connect.
Hm, this could get a bit tricky. Just how much power had she stored in that iron staff? With her uniform disruption aura, to absorb six consecutive attacks anywhere would require a considerable amount of magic. And how could he not have noticed that amount of magic? The staff was still only faintly magical, the amount of magic she was using now could be felt halfway across the city and certainly more than any lone Iris could have managed. There was no way she could have stored that much magic in her staff and not have it noticed.
He squinted at the staff. The question was just how much more magic was in it. He was running out of magic fast, those slashes took a lot out of him. And if he couldn't get through that disruption aura before she cornered him... Hm, the encircling magic was thinner?
I see, she drew back her attack magic to power her defense, looks like my attacks had at least some effect. He thought quickly, then decided not to take his chances. He ran down the street, channeling disrupting magic into the scabbard. With a swing of the sheathed sword, he punched a hole through the encirclement and escaped.
Left behind on the street, Landar heaved a sigh of relief and began to withdraw her magic.
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The men and women sat around the table, a gloomy atmosphere wafting through the room like a bad smell. Worry lined their faces, despite the snacks and alcohol lined up in front of them. The entire inner group of the university was here, including Minmay and Chakim.
"Are you sure he was Light's Edge?" Minmay asked, "not someone simply claiming to be him?"
Landar simply looked at the alchemist whose left hand was now a bloody stump. There were very few people in Inath who could use a sword to cut at range, exactly one to be precise. She was still wondering if that sword wasn't also a magical weapon.
The gloomy atmosphere got deeper.
"Why are we all so afraid of him?"
Well, there was at least one clueless person here. Being from another world, Cato wouldn't have known the famous people of Inath.
"It's Light's Edge! A sword faster than sound, faster than light!" the alchemist cried, "he's one of the most dangerous Em masters. His blade is unstoppable!"
"Doesn't look unstoppable to me," Cato pointed out, "Landar's still here. "
"I only survived because I had my iron staff," Landar retorted, "the barrier I placed around it because the flare in magic sense was getting too annoying prevented him from knowing that I was nearly running out of magic. If he had continued to attack, I might not have gotten away. "
"Can you do better next time?" Cato asked her.
"Perhaps," Landar shrugged, "Light's Edge has strong magic and is very fast, but ultimately he has only one main trick and some martial skill. If I charge my staff beforehand and set up shields, I should be able to drive him off again. "
There were sighs from all around the table. "As expected of the Mad Alchemist..."
"And I will be her escort," Chakim said, "with a Sword and Shieldwall, I will not let him touch a single hair on her head. "
"What about the rest of us?" the uninjured alchemist asked, "Landar might survive an attack, but we won't. Also almost all of us can't even use magic. How will we survive?"
Another layer of doom and gloom settled on their shoulders like a heavy blanket.
"We cannot wait for him to come to you," Minmay said, "since Light's Edge is stronger than any one of us individually, if he attacks someone alone, that person will likely die. "
"Then what can we do?"
"We stay together," Landar said, "move everyone into the university, change one of the new classroom buildings to dormitories. Then when he comes, I and Chakim will be here to defend us. "
"It would make defending you easier," Minmay mused, "I could call on a number of knights to help as well. "
"But how long are we going to stay like that? We can't all stay in the university forever. Can we find the man and capture or kill him? Perhaps use the order of knights?" Cato said while looking to Minmay.
"He's not in the order of knights," Minmay sighed, "he's a freelance mercenary and assassin. While no well-known person would try to assassinate a noble for fear of reprisal from every other noble, this does not extend to the noble's interests. We need to know what his targets are, which is clearly everyone here, and who sent him. "
Obviously, no one could answer that last question.
"At any rate, since his target is the university, Light's Edge must have been hired by another noble who objects to what we're doing here," Minmay spread his hands, "I will investigate on my end, as well as request the knights to hunt this man. All we can do is wait for him to show himself. "
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Polankal ate in silence, Landar on the other side of the table wasn't talking much.
Since the huge uproar over an assassin had locked all the staff into the university, Landar had invited all the students receiving special attention to stay on the university grounds just in case they were targets too. While most of them didn't take her up on the offer, Polankal wasn't about to waste money on lodging. She didn't have money to spare like those lesser noble children or live nearby like the local merchants.
And so for the last two days, she had been eating together with Landar in what was fast becoming a local cafeteria. Despite being shut into the grounds, the resourceful university staff had enticed a cook into renting a room on the ground floor and opening a cookery. It didn't just sell food, but also cooking lessons that were proving surprisingly popular among the forty odd staff who found themselves with very little to do. And some of the poorer students of the magical training program.
Besides cooking lessons, the staff were also getting fond of having day long discussions like the current debate on what to do about soaring rent prices in Minmay. The debate was just as lively as ever, almost as if the invisible sword of the assassin wasn't hanging over all of them.
Polankal paid half an ear to it while sipping the braid and wind eye porridge.
"Rent of a single room has risen by nearly two telins per day in the last week, which is the fastest rise in our records. Ever," the Recordkeeper said.
"Our apprentices and handymen are complaining that they can't afford to pay their rent," the Ironworker added, "many of them are sharing rooms with other families and the inns are filling with temporary residents. We need to build more houses now. "
"We already are," a local builder said, "My teams have a backlog of nearly three streets. Streets, not houses. I'm raising prices but there's simply no end of orders in sight. "
"The same over here," said another builder, "I'm already refusing orders from everyone who I can afford to. I hope you understand that I can't very well refuse to build a new workshop when the Ironworkers demand to jump the queue. Also, I would like permission from Minmay to build in the outskirts, we'll run short of land inside the perimeter of the city in two months at this rate-"
"We have created three new districts in the last month," a knight from the order cut in, "patrols are already overstretched. If we don't post more bounties for guard duty, we risk allowing gangs and violence to grow. Our patrols are also complaining that the new districts are... have a stench of waste. The night haul men aren't doing their jobs, Minmay. "
"There is no money to do that," Minmay said, "I can't be paying you more than the taxes I'm collecting from the trade tariffs. "
"In other words, Minmay city is growing faster and the services can't keep up," Cato concluded, "does anyone know why? Who is coming here?"
"Peasants," the knight said, "many of them carrying farming tools and coming with no useful skills. I see beggars everywhere now. What is going on out there, Minmay?"
They were silent for a while before Cato laughed, "I know why. It's good! Good! The project is already working!"
"The cast iron double plow and seed drill?" Minmay asked, "but we haven't even gotten a crop out of them! I expected this to start in a few months once the next harvest is gathered and the crash in food price, not immediately!"
"The plow and seed drill reduces the number of people who need to farm. Same with the animal powered threshers and grindstones," Cato explained, "with your monetary backing, we are giving every village near Minmay a set of the equipment and training on how to use them. The peasants are already running out of work. "
"They can go farm more... oh, I see, they're running out of land to farm too," Minmay muttered.
"The Mana Tax was the right decision, sir," Cato said with a smile, "you need to find another method of employing the peasants and the alchemical power is perfect for it. "
"That still doesn't solve the present problem," Minmay pointed out, "all these peasants will need a place to live in and bad conditions will only make crime, illness and fire more likely. "
"Issue a property tax," Cato said, "every new house requires more services, from guards to taking out the crap. So make each house pay for it. Tax all property owners a fixed amount per land area every week or month. And each new building on a fresh piece of land pays a special one time levy to use the land. Sell the land to the builders, don't just give it away. Or sell the permission to build, however you do things here. "
"What?!" the two builders shot up simultaneously. They looked at each other, then the first one took the lead. "That is insane! How are we going to do business if we have to pay Minmay everything we-"
"The tax does not have to onerous," Cato said, "a building as long as ten Rekis and as wide as six could pay perhaps a telin per day. A new building of the same size might only cost a few Rimes for the land. It's up to Minmay to decide how much money he needs to pay for the services your customers require. Surely with rising rent and building prices, the landlords and you can afford that much. "
"Why don't you tax the Ironworkers who are bringing in all those new apprentices? Or the farmers?" the builder asked.
"Minmay is not ready for an income tax," Cato explained, "I don't believe many guilds calculate exactly how much they pay their workers. Asking them to pay a tax based on income will just be inviting corruption. A tax based on land use is much harder to dodge, and corruption is best avoided whenever possible. "
Polankal watched as the table dissolved into a fierce argument over the practice of 'side dealings'. It did not escape her attention that the observer from Ektal did not participate, he merely watched everything with a sharp eye.
She avoided his gaze and looked back down at her empty bowl.
"It's amazing," Polankal ventured, making Landar look up.
"What is?" Landar asked.
"Cato," Polankal said, "he has all the answers to the problems, doesn't he?"
Landar smiled, "not all the time. "
"Can I learn to do that too?" she mused idly. Maybe she could learn the answer to her own problem?
Landar raised an eyebrow, "really? You want to?"
Polankal nodded eagerly.