CHAPTER 74: What’s in a name?
Now Mr. Papadopoulos knew as well as I did that once the true nature of those rocks became known, the value of them would skyrocket. What better than a real-life display that would become the envy of royalty and nobles in all the kingdoms. A noble that handed something like that, tax free, had no idea in their minds what they had just given away. Heaven only knew how many other rocks like that were in that mesa, but I had only taken a few of the surface boulders.
No one knew better than him what those rocks would do for a town like Obon. And if that model I showed him on the floor was anything to go by, it would be nothing short of spectacular. He couldn’t deny his nature. This was a labourer’s dream.
“How are those tools working for you?”
With the rock being as hard as it was, Mr. Papadopoulos’ men would be breaking their tools and their backs to shape them better.
“I’ll be frank with you. If you hadn’t given us those tools, we’d still be a third of the way we are now. Those tools you sharpened for us in Shimmerstal are as sharp as ever. I’ve never seen something as fantastic as those, the men can’t get over how well they’ve held. Not even the best tools out there can compare. Even that doesn’t compare to what you gave us when we arrived.”
The nibbler tools I made for them contained transfer gates about the size of my palm, permanently on receive mode. When the nibbler tool gate shut, anything inside of them became permanently cut off. Take something as hard as a paving rock as an example; where ordinary tools needed force to cut, chip and break pieces of rock to shape them, a nibbler tool behaved like a molecular guillotine. Nothing could stop it cutting, that’s why fingers, hands and arms are preferably kept safely on the present side. The nibbler tool sliced rock like butter, producing beautifully facetted faces. That allowed flush connections between the pavers, something that would make the builders of the Giza pyramids proud. It was important that the pavers contact each other like that because the Mustite needed to make contact, almost like an electrical connection.
“I’m not expecting you to give me an answer now, besides, there’s a few things that need to happen first. Let’s catch up before I leave to set up the woodcutter’s camp.”
Yeah, like having permission to build in anything in Obon in the first place. I was reasonably sure mayor Marset would first die before giving me permission. I wouldn’t be the one to grant him that, but I certainly didn’t want to make his life easy.
The next morning, something kept bothering me about those washing facilities. Another quick look at the inn’s bathing facilities before heading to work confirmed my fears. Someone from the construction team placed a mosaic on the floor of the bathing cubicle, a top-down picture of a man looking through a hole in the dividing wall and in the opposite cubicle, there was a top-down mosaic of a lady showering. It was all done in good taste but then I understood why Haruhime smiled at me like that yesterday evening. I swear that picture on the mosaic looked just like me from the top, how did they even know what I looked like, and I certainly wasn’t looking at her like that? At least the mosaic lady didn’t have those deep scars running down her back, I still felt sorry for Sustelia.
Already town looked so much better, all we needed was to plant some lovely trees along the boulevard. I could imagine something like lofty autumn oaks lining the boulevards in colour during the colder months.
Since Karato returned we continues our dungeon training with him. I was becoming adept at defending myself against rabbits. I was in a tricky situation, three rabbits surrounded me, two actively attacked me and the third circled me. They waited for me to lose concentration and an open gap in my defence.
Karato stood back, out of the fray like he normally would but kept up his coaching commentary.
“When you are under attack from more than one enemy stand with your back near a wall.”
That made perfect sense to me. I was then able to protect my back while focusing on the attacks from the front and sides. It still meant that I needed to be aware of three sides. I used that moment to activate the air sense skill. Closing my eyes, I focused on the sounds around me, I could sense the rabbits in my mind as clearly as if my eyes had been open. This was easier for me to handle because I could determine both direction and speed from all opponents at once and didn’t need to see them first. The left-hand side rabbit started setting up for a low attack by aiming for my legs. I jumped up and over the rabbit. An incoming rabbit came from the front. I feinted to the right while swapping the knife position from my right hand to the left. Blade pointing backwards, sharp edge facing outwards. I slashed and blocked with the knife.
“Got you.”
I swopped the knife hand and stepped backwards, closer to wall.
“Got you.”
The second rabbit hit the ground, dead. For the last rabbit I had a plan. I placed my hand on the wall to my right and I could sense the rabbit watching me from a distance.
“Gravity.”
The rabbit made a strange thump noise as it collapsed to the ground when its mass suddenly increased. It reminded me of an egg on a pan lying sunny side up. It was trying to move because it looked like the rabbit was shivering from the cold, but the killing intent in its eyes as it looked at me was clear. Gravity held it firmly to the floor. I walked up to it and dispatch it with one blow of the knife.
“Okay, I have seen a lot of battles in my life but that was the first time I saw something like that. Did you just use skills?”
“How much has Grenfell told you about me?”
“Enough to tell me to keep quiet about it. Although I never imagined it could do anything like that.”
He was talking about the gravity effect I had just placed on the rabbit. I increased its mass to the point that it couldn’t move its heavy body and it just collapsed, flat on the ground. If I kept increasing the gravity on the rabbit its lungs would eventually collapse under the weight of its body and the creature would cruelly suffocate. I wasn’t a huge fan of doing anything like that, so I kept the gravity just heavy enough to immobilise the rabbit until I could sort it out. If the old man trusted Karato, I would too.
“I am going to ask you a favour Karato. I need to practice my skills while you are with me. I would appreciate it if you keep what you see only between us and Grenfell?”
“Yeah, I could see why you would want to do that. I have so many questions, but I am sure we can talk about them soon enough. I would suggest though that for now you refrain from using skills as far as possible.”
“Huh, why is that?”
“Because physical interaction creates good battle strategy, regardless of whether you use skills or not. Using only skills will make your mind lazy to physical realities.”
I could see the sense in that. Over reliance on skills would make me inefficient in good decision making and could cost me my life.
“Let me ask you a question, is your ethereal energy limited?”
“Yes, if my ethereal energy drops below a certain point my skills are useless.”
“Even more reason than to have a backup where your physical skills can pull you through.”
Yet another good point.
“Okay then, for now I will limit it, but for the sake of co-operation I will tell you when I intend on using skills so that we can be more efficient in battle.”
And that was that. On a later occasion, when I had a bit of time to describe my skills, he made suggestions as to what skills would best compliment a situation and be dead on right. His ability to recognize opportunity and understanding military tactics was exemplary, it certainly made me more interested in the history behind Karato and the old man.
After ending our morning stint with a confirmation of our subjugation kills with Olivia and were about to leave when Olivia stopped us.
“There’s another bit of business we need to discuss.”
I couldn’t recall anything we still needed to talk about. She leaned forward and explained in a soft voice.
“Your compensation money for that ‘business’ with the guild came through recently. They are also requesting permission to pass on your agreement to other parties.”
I had totally forgotten about that with all the events of late. She was of course referring to my method I sold to the guild to help them detect counterfeit gold.
“Go ahead, I don’t have any problem with them selling it to others. Just how much money are we talking about?”
“Nine hundred and sixty-five gold, seventy-nine silvers.”
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“What?”
“What?”
Olivia surprised both Hana and me.
“How could it be so much?”
Hana asked.
“You need to understand that the guild deals with many large monetary transactions. We are far more than just an institution dealing with monsters. A lot of private labour also goes through us, especially anything outside the speciality of the labour guild. In your situation the guild prefers not to transport large amounts of money so in cooperation with the palace, and in cases like this, the guild creates an account for the adventurer without cost. If you would like to buy goods outside the guild, they can be purchased with coupons made out in the adventurer’s name. There’s a minimum transaction fee of five silver coins or one percent, whichever is the highest. Otherwise, we’re happy to give out coins to the amount of one hundred silver coins although it would be good to advise us in advance. Also, there’s a ten percent withdraw fee.”
Oh, my goodness it was a money-making business.
“Hang on a minute. Why don’t you charge us ten percent when we get a quest reward?”
“That’s a good question. We do, although it is paid in advance by the quest sponsor and not the adventurer. Also, since your money is considered payment for a service and not a quest, it falls under a different agreement.”
Oh goodness that made me wonder why no one had taken the initiative to open a bank and create some competition. It was Hana that surprised me with the next question.
“That’s a lot of money. How’s that ten percent spent?”
“We are open about this issue because adventurers always ask, many with the same question. Let’s say for example the ten percent equals ten silvers. Three silvers go to the guild to cover running costs and to pay for ongoing quests like the rabbit, and monster subjugations when no specific sponsor is required but where the guild still considers it a service to the community. Two silvers go to the palace as kingdom taxes and the remining three silvers go to the local lord, or in our case because we don’t have a ruling lord, the mayor of Obon.”
That last statement had me a little concerned because from what I knew about our friendly neighbourhood mayor, I suspected little if not none of those taxes the mayor sequestered went into town maintenance. Heck, the thought still hung in my mind when someone rudely interrupted me.
“Are you doing business without me?”
“Yikes!”
By the old man’s furry eyebrows, it was Elle, the green-loving elf with the silver hair. The old man snored like a sawmill while his daughter moved quieter than a mouse. I couldn’t believe they were from the same family. Just how did she move like that? Hana was snickering again. The little blighter, she must have seen Elle approaching and just let her get her way with me.
“N…no. Actually, your timing is pretty good.”
“Isn’t that a surprise? I had a feeling my services were needed. What’s the problem?”
“No problem. I just wanted to know that when I open my woodcutter’s business whether I need to pay a tax?”
“Did Karato say anything about paying a tax?”
“No, I’m not sure why.”
“Mm, I’ll have a word with him. There’s a strong chance you can apply for tax exemption. When we’re done here, can we have a conversation, we need to talk about your planning for the woodcutter’s camp. I’ll get you at the table over there when you’re ready.”
After receiving one hundred coins from Olivia and paying the ten-silvers transaction fee, we sat down with Elle.
“Have you given any thought to how you’re going to process and transport the wood you cut? You realise that transport is expensive and it’s expensive to buy carts? That cost alone could cripple your business, and in Obon the mayor holds the monopoly.”
“I investigated purchasing carts and realised it wasn’t going to work, not if we were going to start in fifteen days’ time. I thought of processing the lumber on site, where the trees are felled, then transporting the cut planks directly to the capital by horseback. With that in mind, I would like to purchase enough fast horses to make daily deliveries.”
Elle looked at me with green, blinking eyes.
“I’m missing something here. Just how do you expect to carry large timber on horseback?”
“Actually, you’re missing two things. Shane, why don’t you first show her where you store your Direwolves?”
Outside the adventurer guild a moment later…
A direwolf fell out of the transfer storage with a thud. I was getting deja vu.
“Was that transfer storage you just used?”
“Yeah, I guess the old man couldn’t hold himself in telling you, could he?”
“He, he, he. He didn’t have a choice, actually.”
I sighed.
“Anyway, with this on a ring, we can send as much timber as often as we like.”
“That’s serious competition to the merchant’s guild, whatever you do, don’t let them get wind of it. It would still be better to load up carts otherwise you’ll face more than stiff competition from them. The nobles could close you off from the distributors and the retailers.”
What Elle was saying between the lines was that I could trigger a merchant’s war, and knowing how large the monopolies were, I could find myself with a product I couldn’t sell. I wasn’t about to let a few power-hungry nobles stop me, and I certainly wasn’t without my methods or contacts.
“Look, let’s take it a step at a time. Currently, there shouldn’t be too much competition coming from Obon with the monster issue. Before anyone becomes the wiser, we can purchase carts and get out foot into the market that way.”
Elle sighed, she realised it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.
“You mentioned a second point Hana.”
“Oh, yes. Shane, show Elle your wood-cutting contraption.”
“It’s called a chainsaw.”
“Chainsaw?”
I brought out a device, about the size of a cart. It lay disassembled on the ground, but anyone recognise the basic parts of a power chain saw. The power saw rig was basically a chainsaw that moved along parallel railings. The railings sat horizontally on both sides of the downed tree. Two people could then harvest the planks where a tree fell with no need for hauling large tree trunks to more convenient places to be processed.
When I explained the outline of how the device operated, Elle asked,
“Where does the cutting chain get the power to cut?”
I pointed to a specialised motor Ara and I designed, using the same golem driving system as my scolems. The motor was in essence a simplified golem designed to turn when a button was pressed. From my preliminary checks, the chainsaw was so efficient I had to turn down the power levels otherwise the chain threatened to fly apart, even if the chain was made mostly out of orichalcum. There wouldn’t be any reason to sharpen the blades ever again. If it ever came to that, it would be better just to replace the entire chain.
“This contraption will speed up wood processing significantly. How quickly can the woodcutters learn to use it?”
I shrugged. It was a bit of a rhetorical question. It depended on the understanding of the woodcutters.
“They should be proficient within a day.”
I could see Elle smiling for the first time.
“By the way, to register a business, we need to have a name. Have you thought of one yet?”
I nodded. Hana and I had many a late-night discussion on that issue.
“Yes, we’ve decided on a name.”
“We’ve decided to call ourselves, Goldcastle. We feel it represents strength and wealth, bringing security and prosperity to others.”
“That’s a unique name, but I like it. Okay, from now on, you’re the Goldcastle team.”