While Eleonora had her own troubles to work with, in a small Village far away from the Imperial Domain was a barn. Inside this barn was an unusually deep staircase below the earth going into a cavern with a large magic circle chiseled into the rock of the floor which started to glow.
After a while a half sphere enveloped the inside of the circle and just vanished the next second. Where there was nothing before, a chubby youth and four Maids were leisurely walking out of the circle in the opposite direction of the staircase.
Touching a wall the wall melted away and showed a smelting operation. Different people were hard at work to get ready for work where the giant crucible stood and some kind of forms were put near the release spout on the bottom.
An old man noticed the new arrivals and came over with a smile.
“Lord Drak! I am glad to see you healthy. Are you ready to assist?”
“That is why I am here. Is everything fine? Does your Village need anything?”
“No, no! The Village is fully sufficient. Our sister Villages help each other out and keep us stocked with all we need and most of what we wish for. There is nothing to complain about.”
“I am glad to hear that.”
Being escorted to the Crucible, people saw Drak and bowed their heads before going back to their specific works. While they were busy, the People were not overburdened and worked diligently together.
Suddenly a rather large creature came from behind the Crucible. It looked like a human but was way bigger and its red skin was cracked all over showing a yellow glow below. The air around it was slightly distorted and made it clear the body radiated an extreme heat.
“Marcus, are you well? Does anything hurt?”
Drak saw the creature and asked for its well being rather than being shocked to see it.
“Nothing hurts. I am well. Thank you.”
While the creature could only talk simple, it showed high intelligence. This creature was a former Slave called Marcus. He was one of the first Drak saved. Also he was the first where Drak noticed how dangerous his way of giving Power was. Marcus was ‘not compatible’ as it was Named after long research about the happenings.
People not compatible with Drak were not able to hold his given powers. If they are given those powers the Body and the Magic fight against each other to get into an equilibrium. In most cases the People would transform into something inhuman as the Body gets forced to accept the quickly rising Magic.
Marcus himself was one of the more lucky ones. His transformation had him hurt for a long time but after the full change he had no issues anymore. Drak was apprehensive after seeing what came out of Marcus and made the Slaves work without getting powers but was begged by few to get the chance to be more useful for him, as Drak not only pulled them out of the despair of being an illegal Slave but gave them a leisurely life. Being naive he gave some more abilities but stopped right after one who was not compatible died by his body turning inside out.
Rose, an alchemistic Slave with a bright mind and learned abilities to work on reagents could at least convince him to work on a way to weaken the powers to make a kind of enhancement potion able to be used on non compatible people. The end result was an extreme mixture of many weakening herbs with heavy emphasis on dissolving Magic. Shockingly Drak’s Blood itself fought back and dissolved the solvent which made it not even needed to be filtered afterwards as no toxins were being left inside. Tests with Animals showed success and became a staple after a test of how high the compatibility is.
“Marcus, I am here to make the Ingots. Are you ready for work?”
“Always. Getting ready.”
Walking away Marcus went to the Crucible and put his hands on it. Heat flowed from his hands into the giant Crucible and made it slowly start to glow.
“Alright, I should work too.”
Drak was walking to a rather large Crystal cluster which stood alone in a large empty place. Drak laid his own hand on it and channeled his Magic inside. Not even a second afterwards the Crystal grew rapidly on the other side where Drak was standing. New clusters intertwined and became large chunks before radiating out into even more branches which became new clusters and afterwards chunks. After Drak was finished the place where there was empty space was packed with a gigantic Crystal chaotically grown and intertwined.
“Whew, this is finished. Are the cutters ready?”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Master, do not sound like this was hard for you. You will still work on the Law Studies later.”
“Dangit! Still, are the cutters ready?”
“Yes Master, they are already changing into their work attire.”
Not even a second after an unshaven strong looking man with a pair of heavy gloves came over.
“Already finished Seria, sis. We get to work right away, better not let Marcus wait for too long. The forger had problems with the stamp, but said he had it figured out. Maybe you should ask him if he needs some help, Master?”
Not even waiting for the answer he took his group to the crystal, who started to use different kinds of Magic or special picks to break it into chunks.
“Rude as always. Master, maybe you should give someone else the head position for the cutters?”
“I like his honesty and frankness. Also he is the best in cutting and also dedicated to safety. Without him there would be more injured as cutting those Magic Crystals can be rather dangerous if done improper.”
“Fine. Next would be the Forger, as mentioned. I already have the Information, about how the specific Symbol of the Gracia Family had some details hard to copy. They might have thought we use the seal directly to stamp it and not make dozens of castings.”
“So it was hard work, huh? Did he recreate it authentically?”
“He said it would be near impossible to see through it as it is cast in magical Crystal and irregularities in the casting process always distort some parts anyhow. While he says that, I have seen the tests with pure metal ingots and he severely understates his work. As expected of a former forgery expert being worked to the bone in the Underworld.”
“I am glad you could forgive him.”
“He himself did not have guilt, it was the duchess who ordered the Documents being forged to blame my Family and change the places where we would be shipped to.”
While Drak talked with Seria large chunks of Crystals were brought up to the Crucible and lowered in. As they started to melt small explosions could be heard inside the Crucible. The volatile Magic crystals exploded on different corners, which made the work on them so dangerous. If cut wrong those places emit Magic in the form of explosions not shattering themselves but making everything else around them suffer.
Starting to liquefy the Casts were rolled below the crucible and liquid crystals flowed into those casts to cool down and become ingots with the ten mountains and the Imperial Seal of the Gracia Family visible on them. While the Ingots slowly cool in another corner of the Workshop the next cast was already put under the Crucible when the explosions finally stopped being heard from the newly inserted Crystals.
—
A small Cafe with a nice ambient was running in the Imperial City. While the cafe was being tried to be extorted, the Gangs members just vanished, never to be seen. Guards were also being bribed to look into it but found nothing and lately the Imperial Family had made a note to not further make attempts to undermine them.
At this day an escorted Merchant came to the backdoor, which donned the imperial Signet. After a knock the door was opened and before anything the Merchant already introduced himself.
“My name is Eldenbury. Could I please see the Manager? I have an appointment for a business deal.”
Hearing this the Barista who opened the door bowed and greeted back. Afterwards he brought him right into the large Warehouse in the Cellar where the Cafe owner was checking the Inventory of the tea leaves and cocoa beans.
“Ah, you must be the Collector of the Magic Crystals, yes? Please verify your Identity and we will commence the trade.”
Taking out the imperial seal and a black coin the Owner ignored the seal and scrutinized the coin.
“Glad to make your acquaintance, I am Jeeves. Please this way.”
Behind a large Door was a second Warehouse filled with Crystal Ingots donning the ten Mountains and inside the Imperial seal. Seeing this the Merchant was impressed, especially after looking at one of the ingots directly. The seal was rather detailed with only some malformations obviously from the manufacturing process.
“Marvelous. My Patron will be glad to see the new commodity being this pristine. Can we expect the later ones to also be in this quality?”
“My Superiors said this is the expected quality every time. Also Sir Black Merchant is glad to have a stable transaction route. Do you want some Tea or maybe a Coffee while your Guards put the Ingots in your magic bags?”
“I would be delighted! By the way I was asked to tell the Black Merchant he could get a transportation license and even guarded convoys if he transports the next ones into the City.”
“While I appreciate the gesture, Sir Black Merchant finds it a hassle to have these kinds of transports being made. He would rather keep the status quo of his regular transports, as they are easier and safer for him.”
“He finds it a hassle and wants to keep smuggling them into the Imperial City?”
Eldenbury was a bit flustered as he heard that. Who in the world would just decline an imperial transport like that? This made no sense for him, but could only smile back and relay the Information to his Superiors.
“Would the Black Merchant want to acquire something? We have the authority to grant small errands and can relay larger ones for verification. If there is anything he wants, the Imperial Gracia Family would be open to help, so our Friendship can be strengthened.”
“Right now I am not knowing of anything, but I will remind him of your kind and gracious offer.”
Although further ways of indebting Drak to them were tried, no one was working for the moment. Jeeves was sly and rather good with words and could evade any and all tries for now with flowery words. While Eldenbury was a bit aggrieved he had nothing he can do right now and just collected the Crystals before leaving with a slight bow to Jeeves.