“…” Iromin still wasn’t used to the fact that Adam was so open. He understood what was so crazy about him, but also the fact that he was so weak, and had given up so much to the Iyr, making sure the Iyr had ways to keep him in line.
“No, I guess it’s more than six, isn’t it? If you include Turot, Katool, and all the other children. Then there’s their younger siblings too, ah, right, there’s also Asorot too.” Adam thought about how many weaknesses of his the Iyr held, though most were sources of great strength for him too.
‘Asorot…’ Iromin thought of the boy. “Are you still willing to mentor the boy?”
“I’ve been slacking on that, but I’ll try to be a little better,” Adam replied sheepishly. He had meant to assist with teaching the boy, but he had been too busy, and he had left most of it to the Iyr. “I can’t imagine what he must be feeling. I lost my parents too, but I got to choose my family. Asorot, he’s a good kid. I’m sure he’s been keeping his emotions bottled inside. You know, it wasn’t long ago when I was speaking about his grandfather. He seemed confused until he realised it was about the old man, Jarot.”
“Your grandfather?”
“Whose grandfather?” Adam replied with a huff, before quickly relaxing. “Anyway, he probably needs some time to adjust. I still think it will be best for him to be raised by the Iyr.” Adam thought back to what the boy had asked so long ago. “You know, he asked to be my son.”
“He did?” Iromin asked, as though he hadn’t heard of the matter previously. “You refused?”
“I told him that if he was my son, he wouldn’t be an Iyrman,” Adam admitted.
“Why would he not be an Iyrman?”
“Because, he’d be my son first, right?” Adam replied, staring up at the Chief. “You can’t steal my children away from me, Chief.”
“Are you saying that your children are not Iyrmen?”
“As far as I am aware.”
“Their greatfather is an Iyrman. Their grandmother is an Iyrman. Their uncle, their aunt, are Iyrmen.”
“You’ve done so much for me already,” Adam whispered, as though he didn’t want to say the words. “I need to remember, though, that I’m not an Iyrman.”
“Is that so important?”
“I don’t think being an Iyrman is for me.”
“Will you raise your children elsewhere?”
“In the fort.”
Iromin slowly nodded his head. “If that is your wish.”
“It’s not that I don’t want them to be Iyrmen, it’s just…” Adam sipped more of the juice, thinking for a long moment. “I just want them to be free.”
“No one is free in this world.”
“Yeah.”
Iromin wasn’t sure if Adam had said something that warranted a reason to kill him, but it certainly had felt like it.
“I can’t take responsibility for Asorot,” Adam said. “That kind of responsibility is too heavy for me. I can’t match the likes of his parents. You should see the way the boy talks about them. I can’t replace his parents. I’m too much of an idiot, Chief, and he’s… he’s an Iyrman. He should be raised by Iyrmen, that’s for sure.”
Iromin could see why Adam wouldn’t want to be Asorot’s father. It was quite a complicated situation, and he couldn’t blame the young Half Elf, not when he had his hands full with the triplets and twins, the Half Dragons and Goblins.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“I can’t be his father, but his Cousin?” Adam’s lips slowly formed a smile. “I can do that. I’ll spoil the boy rotten. I’ll spoil him like I’ll spoil Turot and Gurot. Murot too, of course.”
Iromin was glad to hear it. He was the one who pushed the boy to be adopted into the Rot family, and it was thanks to Adam’s presence. It wasn’t a difficult request to make of the Rot family, and it wasn’t something the other Great Elders would involve themselves within.
“Chief, can you believe it?” Adam clasped his hands together, furrowing his brows at the Chief disapprovingly. “Their grandmothers have stolen the twins from me. They still prefer even their other nana over me. Can you believe it?” Adam leaned in slowly. “It’s unfair if I can’t spoil Gurot and Murot, even though she can spoil my kids?”
“It does sound unfair.”
“So…” Adam stared up at the Chief, wiggling his brows. “I can spoil Gurot and Murot, right? It would be only fair, don’t you think?”
“I believe so,” Iromin said, biting into his own snacks. How did they go from wondering whether Adam should live, to Adam asking for permission to spoil his Cousins?
“It must be hard being the Chief, when you’ve got someone like me around,” Adam said, pouring the Chief some orange juice.
“It must be stressful for you too.”
“A little, but…”
“But?”
“I think I’m more beneficial to the Iyr than I am dangerous,” Adam replied with a level of calmness the Chief hadn’t expected. “Though I do have to wonder, why haven’t you killed me? I mean, you of all people have the reasons to kill me, considering you know what I can do.”
“I think your heart is good, Adam,” Iromin admitted.
Adam blinked, taken aback by the words. He flushed red slightly, unable to control his lips. “You say that now, but just you wait until you hear my ideas about how to make money.”
“How?” Iromin asked, leaning in slightly. He was sure Adam was drawing back to his first life, the life in which Adam had revealed great items which would no doubt cause great destruction to the world, and yet Adam seemed to find such technology normal.
“Planned obsolescence,” Adam said, raising his finger as though to accentuate the point. “I’ll create magical items which will break once you’ve used them. They’ll be cheaper than typical magical items, sure, but they won’t be permanent. No, once they break, and you have had a taste of them, you’ll come back and open your coin pouch again, passing over gems and gold to fund my business. Sure, the profit margins won’t be quite as high, but more people could afford them, and they would definitely break over time, so they’ll always come back.”
‘…’
“Chief, don’t be so surprised yet,” Adam stated, his lips forming a wide smile. “Do you know what a subscription is?”
“No.”
“I would create an item which would be magical, and the magical effects would cost a certain price each month. Instead of paying, what, four thousand gold for a Greater Enhanced blade that deals fire damage? No, no, you pay a thousand gold upfront, maybe two thousand gold upfront, for the Greater part of the weapon, and then every month you’ll pay, I don’t know, fifty gold? A hundred gold? Every single month you pay the coin, you’ll get access to the Enhanced part of the weapon.”
Iromin furrowed his brows, doing the maths in his head.
“Instead of paying four thousand gold, you pay two thousand gold upfront, and then, what, fifty gold a month to keep access to the Enhanced features? Fifty gold a month, meaning about, six hundred gold a year, six fifty, but let’s say six hundred because it’s a little easier to do maths with. Three years down the road, I’d have made that coin I missed, but then…” Adam raised his brows. “Then, all the money after the third year? That’s free money.”
Iromin stared at Adam, seeing the playful look in the Half Elf’s eyes.
“Yeah, you might realise that you’ve paid more, but maybe you couldn’t afford the entire weapon at first? Well, fifty gold a month, for an Expert? Not terrible. Technically, Experts could make about a hundred gold a month, and half of that on a magical weapon that you could buy a few years sooner to catapult you further up? Even a Master might want to save that money upfront, instead wanting to buy better armour, or maybe even another magical item or some such, hence why they would want to save the two thousand gold. It’s not a big deal, is it? If the people keep paying for the extra features, for ten years, that’s an extra, what? Four and a bit thousand gold? The price of basically another whole Greater Enhanced weapon?”
Iromin wasn’t sure if people would want to do that, but there were plenty of people who went into debt for all manner of things. Not Iyrmen, of course, but Aldishmen? Aswadians?
“Could even do it for Basic weapons. They’re normally, what, a thousand gold? Hard to get a thousand gold for an Expert, right? Fifty gold a month, though? They could pay for the weapon, and the Basic enchantment would be on the weapon, but would only be activated when they pay that fifty gold a month. They’ll pop on the Basic subscription for a few months, and maybe, maybe I put a penalty for unsubscribing, not just taking away the magic, but maybe it costs a little bit of money to unsubscribe?” Adam shrugged his shoulders. “Or, if I’m feeling nicer, maybe if you pay for three months, instead of one hundred and fifty gold, maybe it’s one hundred and twenty gold? That’s only forty gold a month, a whole ten gold per month off the typical price. Perhaps six months could be two hundred gold? That’s what, thirty three ish gold a month? Say you don’t work during the Twilight Month, that’s only four hundred gold a year.”
Iromin remained silent, hiding his lower mouth with his clasped hands, staring into Adam’s eyes.