The month was well over, the only place that remained outside of Harlan’s control was the capital of Elfique, or rather, former Elfique.
Harlan could’ve stepped in, destroyed the city, conquered it himself, but instead he just let an Other observe Dantes and his attempts.
The Castians couldn’t receive more troops in, they couldn’t trade with the other cities, they were trapped, and with that weakness, Dantes advance that should’ve been suicide, had actually worked out well enough.
His army grew to the thousands when he moved through villages and towns, setting the slaves free.
Harlan’s plan wasn’t to take over the entire island if he didn’t need to, but rather to drive all Castian influence off of it.
So if Dantes did manage to capture this one city, he was willing to let him come under the same deal he made to other nations that wished to remain independent.
No slaves, trade between the nations, and if loyalty can be proven, magic could be taught by Harlan’s golems, and soulsmithed items could be sold to them as well.
Two weeks had passed in this siege, in the night camp fires were all around.
Harlan could feel it in the air, the blood that had yet to be spilled.
If he left things as they were, there would be a battle, the city had guards from all around who had been called to bolster the defenses.
They expected things to get bad, but they didn’t think that Harlan could actually cut them off for so long.
Another few days when rationing becomes a question, and the leaders inside would think the best call would be to kill as many soldiers as they could outside to lessen how much food was being eaten.
They’d try to last as long as they could, hoping that they can be connected with the empire again.
He called the prime Harlan, who decided to call in all of the free Harlans.
It was night, they didn’t really need to do much as marshalls right now.
They all turned invisible and tuned their hovers.
They weren't weightless, and they just floated down like dandelion seeds.
Yet instead of planting weed flowers, the Harlan’s started a quiet assault.
With skips and multicast instant silencing arrays, they cleared the city by dawn.
When the citizens stepped out for their morning routines, they found nothing out of place.
There was the scent of iron in the air, blood on the streets, but not a body, not a limb, not so much as a severed ear.
There was a panic, and the Harlan’s slowly revealed themselves and explained that the soldiers were gone and that once it hit noon, he would open the city gates.
A few people drew weapons, but when they dropped dead and in pieces, having been struck by a net of solid air razor wire, it became clear that fighting back wasn’t an option, so much as a death sentence.
Harlan was still getting in the swing of it, but he had gotten good at breaking wills without needing a mountain of bodies.
Noon came around, and Harlan opened one of the gates while focusing all of his others on it.
“Bring Edmond Dantes here, we need to have a talk before he takes this city.”
“And you are?”
One of the other men, a Minos, was from Kor, and he knelt.
“This is King Fomoria.”
“He doesn’t look as scary as the legends say.”
“Rumors you mean. I don’t think I’ve been around long enough to be a legend.”
“Humble as they say.”
“Bring me your king, and you might get this city without a fight.”
“Tarran, bring a message to his majesty, King Fomoria wishes to speak.”
Harlan formed a chair from the stone pathway leading inside; this gate had a small bridge over a creek.
It wasn’t defensive, it was just a water source.
“King Fomoria. What do I owe the-”
“I will be curt. I dislike you. I am going to send a charter here, no slaves, my people will judge the ones in this city and those judgements shall be upheld, a few laws to make sure there is some equality.”
“I will be certain to look over your offer-”
“This is not an offer, it is a requirement. I have allies, enemies, and those I leave alone.
Enemies don’t sign the charter, allies are people who I like, and I leave alone those who sign my charter and follow it. You can remain independent, but signing it is non-negotiable.”
“Carmilla is still a friend, you should be mindful of your tone.”
“Carmilla is pragmatic.”
Harlan got up from his seat and left through a void gate, taking half of the Others with him so they could return to their posts.
The longer a town was under Harlan’s control, the less a marshall was needed, and a dozen of Harlan’s Others could safely spend a few days running security while judges from Kor arrived without those places falling into chaos.
When he went back, he stayed in Kor long enough to get a quick bath and a kiss from Mercedes, then he went to Falin.
Liyana entered her office to find Harlan sitting with his feet up.
She always became unsettled around him, more so since he made moves to attack everything that was outside of his rule and he was building a small army of himself.
“Wh-what can I-”
“I’m here to help.”
“I don’t…”
She straightened herself out and put on a braver face.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Needing help isn’t a problem, nobody can do everything without someone else along the way, but lying about needing help, that is a problem.”
She barely saw him move, but she felt the light breeze despite the closed windows and a few hairs had been cut from her.
“So, I am going to ask, and pretend that you didn’t try to pretend yourself. What can I do to help?”
“I believe that there is a possible rebel force here. Queen Carmine has put down many smaller uprisings from the former Drangites, and perhaps a group of them has slipped into Falin to plan and recover.
I’m keeping it quiet so-”
“It’s done.“
“What?”
“I’ve had D’if’s men here for weeks, they found the rebels, made them disappear into the night, and they spoke, and in this speaking, they revealed more rebels.”
He skipped over, he was near side to side, but slightly past her.
Harlan reached his arm back, placing his hand on her shoulder.
“Next time, ask for help, I’m not an unfair man, I understand that you wanted to solve this on your own.
I didn’t tell Carmilla, and everything you need is contained in those files. You can either turn them in to her, or you can make a new story, one where you saw that there was a problem, and you solved it on your own.”
He left through a void gate without another word, and she could finally let out her breath.
Liyana’s legs felt like jelly, Harlan seemed unstable to her, and the loss of his mother and child, though they were still alive, was something that worried quite a few people who knew Harlan as a softhearted young man.
He moved out again, this time back to the former UT.
The Other in charge of researching the Eolgi said that he had something that he needed to show Harlan.
“What?”
“I said before that they reproduce depending on their food, you remember this, right?”
“Their population booms and falls based on the availability of the food.”
“Yes, but I hadn’t seen them actually reproduce, and when I tried to track them to a breeding area, I found nothing. But I saw it, I finally saw how they work.”
Harlan saw the Eolgi that had brushed against him before, and it had a smaller one next to it.
“They reproduce asexually, like goblins.”
“Are they related?”
“Not that I can tell. Goblins are all separate individuals, but these Eolgi share some genetic memory.
I know that they aren’t exact copies, but the more that I teach them, the more that they advance. I’ve killed almost all of the Eolgi so I can focus on teaching this one and it passes down that knowledge to its children.”
“Is that wise? Are you sure that you shouldn't leave more of them alive?”
“Yes. I ran a little test, I trained an Eolgi to fetch a ball, and then I had this one, I call it Rocky, my prime Eolgi, eat that one, from there, Rocky was far easier to teach.”
“Wait, let me guess. You’ll train Rocky into our perfect Eolgi, and then we will have an army of them that are very easy to train.”
“A hundred years of animal husbandry done in a few more months, a year at most.”
“Continue, but I’m going to send some people here.”
“Why?”
“Do you know how bad you smell? You are covered in dirt and grime.”
“The Eolgi, they don’t like the running water, so I-”
“Take a bath once a week, that much is a start. I know how obsessive I can be, don’t fall into that just because you are here. We need friends, anyone really, just to anchor ourselves.”
“I can make friends.”
“Tell me that you aren’t saying make in a literal sense.”
“I think the distinction between real people and not is less important than you think. Balor became a fairly different person than you.”
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“You can’t make an Other-”
“WHY NOT? HUH? ANSWER ME.”
“Copies can’t make copies. Dagda already tried that.”
The Other suddenly felt foolish, and his outburst made him realize how anti-social he had become surrounded by only monsters who could barely communicate with barks and growls.
“I’ll make sure that the people you send have appropriate accommodations. There is a geo-thermal vent within gate range that I can use to make an underground hot spring for bathing.”
“Use illusions to cover the hole and cut out the ceiling of the cavern, most people don’t like being underground, they will want the sun on their face and a breeze.”
“Will do.”
Harlan’s hopefully final destination for the day was back in Kor.
King Harvestal was coming to visit, along with another, King Velvet.
The first had connections to the empire by way of being a mass exporter of food in the area, and the second, by way of manufacturing luxury goods, furniture and clothes.
Harlan conquered the entirety of his stripe, but he did go south to the other stripe for a few kingdoms that he believed would be the most beneficial to him.
Harlan welcomed them into his home, and he even let them bring their men.
“I am glad you both accepted my invite.”
“I was under the impression that Factro was to be here as well.”
“That was the plan. But, he sent people here, and one of my people died. So, I’m laying siege to his capital now. I will put him in the ground, and hopefully install someone else on the throne. I don’t exactly want to bring on another nation right now.”
He saw the two men tense up, and their soldiers moved their hands closer to their weapons.
“Don’t worry, your spies came and went without anyone being hurt. I know that espionage is just part of running a kingdom, that none of you would be here if you couldn’t get some more information about me and my city.”
“Who died?”
“A maid. She saw him leaving my home, and he stabbed her in the heart.”
“So you destroy his city?”
“She was a young Plest woman, she was born a slave, knew freedom for less than a year, and then was murdered. She had two brothers, both taken away as children because slaves exist as a resource, and that means her brothers were property before they were even out of the womb. Records were scarce, all I found was a bill of sale in the mayor’s office, but they likely died in a mine some 60 miles away, their deaths recorded as just a monthly body count, no names, they are certainly in a mass grave.”
“She was nobody. The Factro kingdom has existed for two centuries, and they have been manufacturing and exporting weapons for almost as long.”
“And in that time, they have relied on the idea that their weapons were worth enough that nobody would kill them. The Castians have been operating under the idea that nobody with real power could show up and fight back like I have. Many things that were true, or assumed to be, for many years, have come crumbling down.”
“Do you intend to handle the weapons that we have used? To replace the source that you are destroying?”
“I know that your kingdom’s independence is reliant on being more costly to conquer than to simply trade with. Without Factro you are at risk, if the empire realizes that you are in a weakened state, they might decide that the cost of subjugation may get close to a certain threshold.”
“I will not be threatened or extorted.”
“And I don’t want to, I want to speak today in good faith. I will do what I can to make sure the cost to conquer becomes completely justifiable.”
King Velvet was a short man, not more than 5’3.
But he made up for his height with a great deal of flare. His clothes were flamboyant and bright, made with enough dyes and threaded gold to buy a house.
He was also rather… feminine; Harlan had seen uglier women.
Unlike Harvestal, he was someone who moved a lower number of high quality goods, and that gave him leverage when he spoke with the Cast. Nobody could make items like his people.
“I want a set of those clothes of yours, the ones that move like mercury.”
Harlan opened a gate, and one of the golems came back with two shifting suits.
It placed one in front of each man, and on top of each, was also a communication amulet.
“And these are the little necklaces that let you speak across many miles? I do wish they were a bit more stylish.”
“The gem is the important part, you can take it out and inlay it in anything else.”
“Fabulous. But how could I trust something like this? Even from a handsome devil like you.”
“Because, if I wanted you dead, I would just kill you.”
“Now that is no way to talk to someone.”
“I don’t say that as a threat. If I wanted your kingdoms, I would take them, and if I wanted to find you, I could. There is simply nothing that those amulets could do to you that I can’t already do, so fear them or not, that is your choice.”
Velvet leaned back in his seat and sipped his tea, being careful not to smudge his makeup.
“I will warn you that there will be a chill when you activate it for the first time, just something that the amulet needs to function.”
Velvet put it on and shivered.
“Now that is unpleasant. Harvey, it’s fine, you can do yours now.”
“I will wait until it is time to leave before I decide.”
“It is fair to be suspicious of me and my magic that you do not understand. You could also give it to one of your people, a messenger perhaps.”
“Perhaps.”
They had a fine lunch, one that was filled with rather mundane conversation.
Harvestal hardly said a word, but Harlan knew that he had a daughter who would be his heir on account of Harlan having killed his son, and that his wife was killed some years ago by the empire.
Velvet on the other hand, seemed incapable of shutting up. Yet he never said anything of real importance.
“And so then I said, cashmere? This is more like burlap!”
Harlan gave a small chuckle, apparently the king was a rather ruthless businessman, and it would be rude to not show any reaction.
“I buried him with that material. A fine styled suit from rather subpar fabric.”
He narrowed his eyes and sipped on his wine, waiting for Harlan’s response.
“What about you? Any children? A… wife?”
“Why did you hesitate?”
“No reason?”
“Well, I don’t have any children. I was selected as heir to the king before me, and I’ll find an heir among my people to replace me when I’m gone. I’ve a few right now, just need to pick one of them.”
Dessert was brought out and Velvet ate the cherry on top of his cake, tying the stem with his tongue.
Harlan didn’t know what to think of him.
Velvet seemed to be projecting an image that didn’t match up with what his emotions were saying.
With the meal over, they went out of the city’s walls to a weapons range Harlan set up rather quickly.
Harlan had a few weapons set up so they could be tested. With each of them on a table, there was also a piece of paper explaining how they worked.
“This sword is as simple as they get, it can fire bolts of the five offensive elements. You point, think the command, and it shoots. Alternatively, you can slash, and send out a wave of the element, but that is weaker, better for flash rather than a real kill.”
Harlan flipped the blade in the air, grabbing it by the tip, and held the handle to King Harvestal.
He was fairly sure that the thought of activating it and blasting Harlan at point blank range was crossing the king’s mind.
Instead he pulled the blade back and shot the bolts at stone targets.
“Velvet, are you interested in weapons as well? I have a hammer and a spear here, which-”
He grabbed the spear and started reading the paper on the table.
“I’m more comfortable with a long shaft than a heavy head.”
The spear had a plus shaped guard on the head to prevent it from piercing too far, and if the user wished to do so, the guards would move forward and push the body off.
Velvet wasn’t lying before, he moved with grace, his fancy clothes seemed to do little to slow him down.
He stabbed into the stone target and then injected a blast of air, blowing it apart.
“Now that is a weapon I can see myself using. Just jab it in and… fill it up until it can’t take any more.”
The other men became uncomfortable with Velvet’s manner of speaking, but Harlan was unfazed.
“Yes. Most creatures are much softer inside than out, the tip of the spear has an acid effect that can be activated, making it far easier to pierce a Cast, at which point any of the spells being released inside of their bodies will kill or incapacitate them.”
“My, you could even capture one of them?”
“Yes, in case you intended to have fun later on instead of in the moment.”
Velvet laughed and it only made the others feel more uneasy.
Harlan picked up the hammer from the table.
“One of you should use this, just to get a feel for it. I intended for three kings to each try one weapon and hand them over to the next person, but, we are one short for that.”
Harvestal reached for the one handed warhammer.
“But why would you not use this yourself?”
“These weapons are designed with normal people in mind. Faun, humans, Dague, Plest, that is the baseline for these.”
“So?”
Harlan skipped over to one of the targets, activated the weapon sigil, and a slap of his hand sent the stone flying even more than the blast from the spear.
Then he skipped back.
“I am not at the base level of any of those races.”
Harvestal was not a young man, he was in his early 40s already, yet the swings of the hammer broke apart stone and even the thicker trees.
He twirled it a little in his hand, and it felt light as a feather.
“This is… this is nice. He would’ve liked to have one of these.”
Harvestal gave the hammer back to Harlan.
Normally when he killed somebody, he didn’t need to deal with their relatives like this.
“Did he suffer?”
“I end things as quickly as I can for both of our sakes.”
“What do you gain from it?”
“If there were a way to make a better world without having to take another life, I would. But, we do not live in a better world, and this one can only understand and respect strength. To destroy the empire, I must kill men by the thousands, and sometimes people are caught up in this killing.”
The mood was dour, and nobody wanted to break it.
Harlan handed the hammer back to Harvestal.
“Strike the ground when you swing, like you are trying to send dirt towards your enemy.”
Harvestal did as asked.
When the hammer hit the dirt, it gouged out the earth and sent chunks of sharp stone in a fan pattern.
They pierced deep in the trees and kicked up a cloud of dust.
“It is a good weapon. 500 of each, what is the cost?”
“First time price, a gold piece for each. I’ll use the weapons claimed from Factro as a base, so the cost will remain low.”
“I’d like the same number of each. Though I’d like one special for me, something with a… stiffer shaft.”
“Very well.”
They all went back inside and Mercedes dealt with the particular details of the deals.
Harlan meanwhile, went to Factro.
The entire country was effectively one giant machine grinding out weapons of war to keep the three nations.
Mining towns, factory cities, the air quality was enough to scare most people away
Black lung, rust lung, iron lung, and even blue lung, which came from them processing so much lapis for Velvet.
The lands were dead, they could only continue to function with food from Harvestal.
The Others were backed up by thousands of combat golems.
The prime Harlan was only called in because there was a problem that they couldn’t solve without him.
The king hid himself away in a large vault, and whatever enchantments were on it, the Others couldn’t break in.
Their gates would start to form, and then snap shut in a dangerous manner.
If they forced it, they worried it would cause one of those large explosions that wipe out all life that he had been once warned of.
Void gate however, was beyond a normal gate.
The Others couldn’t use it either, it was a spell that was granted by the darkness, not something that Harlan was able to cast because he understood it.
The doors to the vault swung open after 10 minutes, the Others rushed in to kill or capture everyone inside, and then it was just a matter of figuring out which lever opened the door.
Harlan didn’t like making enemies, and he didn’t like making orphans, but he had made quite a lot of both.
“MURDER, YOU KILLED HIM, I’LL-”
The boy’s mother covered his mouth.
“Please, spare him, please.”
“I don’t make a habit of killing children.”
He was probably in his early teens, to many people in this world, he was not a child any longer.
Behind the mother were more children.
The king had five children, a way to hopefully avoid all of his heirs ending up with crippling chronic illnesses as a result of their manufacturing processes.
“Do you have the skills needed to keep this country running? Or are you a trophy wife? An heir factory?”
“Yes, yes, I know what to do, I know a lot about… merchentry, and nobility, and, and-”
“I will hold this nation, I would appreciate it if you would sit on the throne to keep the people content until one of your children can take the throne.
If you need help with anything, ask. I didn’t want to do this, but your husband crossed a line when he had one of my people killed.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I-”
“What is your name?”
“Rustella.”
“Rustella, I did not come here to kill you, or your children. All I wanted was to avenge that death. When your husband refused to give over that spy, when he denied me that vengeance, he had to die as repayment.
Boy.”
The now queen let go of her oldest son.
He stared at Harlan with a fire fit to refine ore.
“I know you want to kill me, but that will never happen. Do not force your mother to bury her son so soon after burying her husband. You must remain strong for her and for your brothers and sisters.”
Harlan left one of D’if’s others there to watch her from the shadows
He couldn’t tell if she was telling the truth, he simply knew too little about the kingdom to make a real judgment on her.
But more important than that, he didn’t want another Liyana situation, he needed to know what help he should give to her to make sure that the nation doesn’t fall into chaos.