With the assistance of Brogni and Eredar, Rex got acsess to what little knowledge the merchant guild had in their guild library regarding blood magic and its intricacies. And altough what they had was quite a poor collection of knowledge, Rex could piece out quite a bit of nuances in the usage of the school. This somewhat generic knowledge provided him witha a much needed direction, and prompted him to experiment witha a few concepts he had been thinking of. Rex had come to the conclusion that blood magic had two main subcategories in it. The blood subtre as he chose to classify it, and he asumed that through focusing on this side of the school, he could asume dirrect controll over other beings, like a pupeteer, controlling the dolls of flesh. The other subtree would be what all blood enslaving was based upon. Soul magic, that used blood a medium. Flesh and soul, two sides of the same coin, as both are linked ever so tightly, and as such controll over the latter through the first.
Rex reasoned, that for his needs, focusing on the soul part was quite obvious, however he would also develop a certain technique utilising blood, that he asumed would skyrocket his growth speed of personal strenght, and as such, the following week, during witch Eredar was finalising the documents necesarry to transfer the ownership of Rex's new mansion in the noble district to him, Sponsored by both Eredar and Brogni, Rex developed his new technique with the knowledge he aquired from the guild. he got his hands on a couple of bunnys, and locked himself in the basement, working on his new technique. In the same time, his servants were taught mathematics, and few other necesary skills for them to become proper maids. Common sense training was also put in place, to educate the girls regarding the darker side of society, that existed in the outside world.
At the end of the week, Rex did travel to city lords mansion with both Eredar and Brogni. And while Rex was reluctant, he was persuaded by the merchants that at the very least the lord of the city had to be avare of the new resident of the noble district. Rex grumbled for quite the long time, and to not be annoyed to high heaven he even used one of the techniques he had learned from the books of merchants guild. A sort of identity card creation, just like the adventurers cards, Every mage had a unique signature they left, and so as the guild had their official mages who crafted the base of adventurers cards, so could rex create his own card, with his unique signature. And Rex had done exactly that. A simple dog tags with serial number and name of the person on one of the two set pieces and the afiliation and owner on the other side. These identification tools were made for his girls and servants in the future. And his presence here was to provide the lord of the city with an example of the card, so his oficial servants would know who not to mess with without justifiable cause. Rex was dressed in a rather covering clothing. He had no interest to parade himself like an exibit, nor was that required. Blood mages were unreasonably eccentric, and as such noone would raise an eyebrow. His face was well hidden as well, so recognizing him if one would meet him in the city was nigh imposible.
The lord had almost rolled out the red carpet when he heard of a blood mage ariving for an audience, and only because of timely interferance by the two merchants was it kept quite private. Luckily the lord came from qiute powerfull family himself and didnt have the need to try to go overboard with the ass kissing beyond the initial required courtesies regarding guests of the highest importance. When Rex and the merchants entered the lords study, since they had opted for a private and low profile visit, instead of the grand welcoming with a parade and a banket that would happen in the lord's castles main court hall, they were greeted with a rather simply decorated office room. Book shelves, covering the walls, stacked with books. A rather large sized table in the middle, covered in books and scrolls of all sorts, a rather comfortable looking chair, in witch the lord was sitting and reading through some sort of a report.
The butler announced their presence, and lord switched his attention from the scroll to his guests. Once they were in, the lord stood up, nodded at the mage and adressed both merchants and his guest
"Honored guest, Brogni, Eredar, to what do I owe such visit?" his voice calm, ready and prepared for many different situations. Both merchants quickly went on a few minute long greetings and exchange of pleasantries, as required of their stature, always keeping the major players happy and showing proper amount of respect. Once the chatter died down Rex Spoke as well
"Greetings, lord of the city. As I have plans to maintain residence in this city for the forseeable future, my aquintances here though it was prudent for me to meet and greet the ruling person of the city. The little people on the streets have only praises for your character and the way you run your city. And for the time being, I have to agree with them. Here's to hoping for your health, so such rule and prosperity last for a long time." Rex spoke, then kept a brief pause, adn once the lord nodded in apreciation of the well wishes Rex continiued "I have also brought with me a sample of my servants identification, so your guards could be warned not to make unnecesarry mistakes, since no matter how great the master, there are always black sheep in every family and company." Rex words were monotone, with not a single indication on an insult there, words spoken trutch, that the lord was well aware of. Such a calm and pragmatic outlook from one of the most sought after proffesionals was quite apreciated, and as such lord smiled lightly, and responed
"Jes, that is the nature of man. Thre will always be someone aiming to bring down a great man and his body of work."
"Is the room secure, with no unwanted eyes and ears around?" Rex asked, quite aware of the posiblity of spys being a posibility." The lord must have his enemies who would try to do almost anything to see him fall, so one had to always be wary. The lord nodded, opened a drawer on the desk, pulled out a device, with a crystal in the middle, and turned a switch on it. A cirlce with radius of a few meters actualized in the room enveloping the four men in the room. Seeing the merchants nod, Rex took of the hood and mask hiding his facial features, and spoke
"It is only fitting, to he face to face with a person, who ensures the order adn welbeing of the city. If you have any questions, mayas well ask them now. I will try to satiate your curiosity with my answers. Within reason of course." Rex spoke in a calm voice, unexpected for his young looks. Then again one could never bee too sure with the true archons. City lordThough for a moment, then spoke
"Victor Vor. Feel free to adress me as Victor. I am not a fan of fancy titles, they tend to eat up unnesesary time and space in ones brain." Lord spoke, having understood the gist of the mages personality.
"Rex." Rex responded "Just name is fine, though i would prefer to not be adressed by name in case there are outsiders present. The two merchants here and an elven pricess names Aina and her party are the only people in the know, my servants not counting, so i would prefer my name to remain in that circle of people as well. How i am adressed outside of theese situations i leave to you, as i will be adressing you as City lord most of the time." Victor nodded in understanding
"Its only normal. Blood mages are often swarmed by leeches who drain the mage untill nothing but husk remain. And since you have been so kind as to allow me to sate some curiosity dont mind if i do so. To start with, are there anything i might inquire regarding your services and their accesability?" Rex was expecting this aspect to be one of the most obvious themes, and since he had already went over said subject with the merchants in great depth he answered
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
"Yes, I have reserved a few spots in my schedule, to be used to enrich both myslef and the city. The gist of it is that as my home city, once every year you will get to action my services. I am willing to make up to three brands. Regarding the time when such auction should be held I will leave it to you three to come to an understanding, since they have their own benefits that they could be interested in auctioning as well. In return, besides the agreed monetary sum, i will also be expecting my residence to not be disclosed. I trully hate being disturbed. As the lord of the city, you have the right to send messangers, if some particulary important issue arises, that may request my presence."
"Do we have to auction all tree brands?" Victor asked, to witch Rex responded
"Not necesarily. As the lord, you have full autonomy over the usage of the branding oportunities. The price of my services will wary depending on the targets dificulty, as is the custom in this line of work. Note that city only have such privilage as long as it is under your rule, and maintains its current state. Its a good city, i would hate for it to detiriorate. Still, ensure that the megaauction, if you decide to sell the right of negotiation to someone else, is scheduled with my asociates. Also they should be used within the year. With that i mean we must negotiate when i will brand someone during the year the gift is issued. I cant be bothered to remember too many things. Im sure you understand."
"So we could come to an agrement that you would brand someone, i have aquired, who would arive in a year or two?" Victor asked to clarify, and Rex noded
"Yes. This world is vast and my friends here have told me of continents that can be acsessed once every few years due to the constant storms around them, and yet information is exchanged with them through magic constantly. I find it only normal, that such a posiblility can occur, since goods and specimens from those continents are extremely valuable."
"And how powerfull individuals do you think you can brand comfortably as of right now." Victor asked. It was known to the highest echalons of nobility, that blood mages had soft caps, who they could brand without breaking the slaves too hard, both mentally and physicaly. Rex though for a moment, then spoke
"I dont believe i have encountered anyone in this city as of yet, that i coud not comfortably brand. Orc champions woudnt be much of a problem either, but they are not the brightests of the bunch, so that doesnt count for much in terms of measurement. I suppose i would need to meet some mages or what ever else there is who train their spirit and soul, to resist adversity." Rex was sinking in his own thoughts regarding his branding cap, as he has yet to encounter the A class and above monsters. he knew there was no upper limit to his potential, but estimating current limits was a hard thing to do. And whil Rex himself didnt think much of his current abilities, Merchants and city lord on the other hand were more than aware of his value right now. Reliably capable of branding an orc champion? That was S class feat. Those monsters had low A class physical stats, with will made of steel, focused on combat and slaughter. And the blood mage was young, he had surely not reached his potential yet. City lord already new, how he would use the three brand he would get this year. He needed to strenghten his authority, and spread the fact that Blythe now had acsess to blood mage services. What better way than to have a couple of orc champions as elite guards. With such display, the last brand he could auction of to raise the importance of the city as the heart of trade. They were in a good location, its just that this city lacked an absolute allure, something that would make it a must for the biggest players in the world. And S class blood mage was just that.
Victor spent the next half an hour asking other questions, to get a better understanding of the mage, and he came to understand that the man was simple for the most part. eye for an eye was what seemed to be his modus operandi for the most part. A man who wanted to live in relative peace from other people, so he could delve in the dungeons, a fact, for which Victor once again thanked gods who made the dungeon a part of this city. Once the most of his questions were answered, during which he had already given Rex ownership mark to city guards to integrate into their reading crystals database, and Victor felt that the visit was coming to and end, he asked what he had been preparing once he knew what to do with his first three brands
"Since we are closing to the end of this discussion of ours, may I be so bold as to request some of the brandings to be scheduled? I have a few formed plans to maximize the profitabllity and stablility of our venture."
Rex looked at the merchants, and once they nodded he shrugged his shoulders "I dont see why not. If you dont mind elaborating."
Victor quickly spoke of his plan, to which the merchants just nodded, quite happy with the lords decisivness, and planning for long term, trying to maximize security, while ensuring the stability and viability of profits. Eredar then added
"We should probably aquire an additional champion. Three apearing at the same time would indicate that we have been planning it for quite a while, make sure the rummors spread faster than normal. The spies of other Countries would make it spread like wildfire, and since Blythe has always been neutral ,we dont have to worry about aggression from enemy states."
"Since I stand to profit from this the most, besides the city itself, I guess i can make a small sacrifice on my part then. Ill brand the third one for the same price as a bonus." Seeing the happy expresion of Victor Rex continiued" Brogni, what would be the going rate for a champions branding?"
"As a low A class being five platinum coins per brand would be the minimum value, and i doubt any blood mage would move for less than that to brand anything. " Brogni spoke. He would be honest to a fault with these partners of his. He was looking into the future. Keep honest and those were never ending profits for him.
"So fifteen platinum coins this once, wount be that cheap in the future, nor will i be so generous with anyone outside our arangement, besides personal friends, but that would be my business anyways. You will be selling the right acsess to a branding oportunity after all." Rex summed up, and looked at Victor.
"I am gratefull for such generosity" Victor spoke whith a smile that seemed to starin his face, but the man was beaming with joy "How soon and with what interval should we organise the hunts for the champions?" he added. He expected each branding to exaust the young mage quite a bit, but Rex words suprised him once again.
"I am ready to deploy tomorow if you can secure enough scouts for speedy hunting. And why would we need intervals? Its just a few champions." Rex asked confused. A few drains on the ordinary orcs and he was good to go for the next branding. "The main bottleneck will be the scout ability to find champion locations, how do you think Ainas party got their champion sword? Find me the targets, prepare a party to keep regular orcs busy and i will take beat down the champion and brand him. After the first the other two will be easy, with the first one helping out." Rex finished.
The remaing trio all though at the same time 'Thats not a gold mine we found ourselves. Thats a fucking platinum mine.' They used thirty more minutes to iron out the expedition into the dungeon, and since merchants were not all too keep on entering, Victor decided to join, it was only apropriate, him being A class and a very interested party. Those champions would be branded to him after all.
Understanding just how important Rex was to the development of the city, Victor aranged for the mansion closest to his castle to be transferred into Rex's ownership. And while invalidating Eredars efforts in securing a property for Rex, both merchants and Victor were in agreement, that it would be easier to provide security to Rex servants and property the closer he was to the castle. Any increase in patrolling strenght and guards would be logical, seeing the growth of wealth in the city. For all intent and purposes, one could guess that the mage is a guest in the castle itself, and Rex had nothing to complain about. He recieved a better and bigger property, that he would return as profit for the lord many times iover, Rex didnt much care. With the fifteen platinum coins in his pocket already, and new money bag to house all his wealth, he had all his money problems in the future covered, as well as a safe place for his servants and harem. Life was looking quite nice right now, and soon he could get back to grinding.