As William looked on, staring at nothing. Words washed around him. He barely acknowledged them.

The hags were haggling a price to return the children.

Their price wasn't gold or treasure. No they asked for pieces.

Pieces of the children he was trying to get from them. They were calling out pieces of humanoids like a butcher might sell cuts of meat. As his face became more and more angry the cuts became smaller. Until the hags gave him their final price the last knucklebone of one pinky off of every child. The horrible thought was that William, considered the deal.

It would keep the children alive and put the hag problem on the back burner. However, it didn't stop them from doing this again. He was in the process of getting another twenty thousand souls to Runick within the next several years. The families of legion would include more children.

No what he needed was a way to ensure safety but also bind the hags from going against him. He had a group contract slot open. The problem was payment he couldn't offer himself in exchange. Unless maybe instead of a live subject a corpse.

He had seen his own viscera many a time in the ogre cave. So long as his body was in pieces he would regenerate in a new body.

After coming to this way of payment he gave his counter offer. Of course he sprinkled it with a little bit of flare "Enough of this back and forth I grow tired. I have a counter offer interested?"

The larger of the hags retorted in her low voice "If you had an offer why did you not say so?"

"My offer isn't just for the children anymore. Your constant haggling has upset me. Thus you will be doing work for me as well as telling you what isn't mine is yours if you find it. My payment is a slightly pulverized but full corpse of an [ Immortal ] and not just a regular one or two. No I offer a fifth. So what do you say do we have a deal."

William almost let a smile come through but restrained himself. The two smaller hags had greed in their eyes. William swore for a few moments after he said 'a fifth' the larger hags mouth fell open. Unfortunately the hags were pact makers themselves they wouldn't be suckered in without knowing the real price.

"What is the work entail and what of this limitation on our prey?"

"I have a divine skill that gives me the knowledge of where certain nearby ores are however I lack the resources to find them. You would find it, and then give me a map to the ore itself. As for the limitation I have special interests in the village of Runick and possible immigrants to the area. Any person who has symbols marking themselves or their party you would leave alone. You would also make sure to protect them on their way to the village. Anyone else is free game."

The hags looked to each other and whispered amongst themselves. They eventually look back to him.

“Once we have the corpse in sight, will we formalize this pact.”

“Sounds good, may I see the children now to know they are not spoiled in the mean time before I procure the corpse?”

“You may see them but I warn you they are asleep and restrained.”

“Lead on then.”

The dark skinned hag then led William through a series of tunnels that sloped downward the air became damp a thin white mist hung over the floor of the tunnel. Eventually the small tunnel passed a carved out space, long roots acting as bars.

In the dim light produced by a luminescent fungus William saw nine shapes of various sizes all secured to flat rotten boards. From his vantage point he could see that each of the children was slightly covered in dirt and slightly starved but overall unharmed.

I hope the nine of you are worth my pain and time saving you. Lets hope you use this gift of life well.

Satisfied William then made his way back with the help of the hag then exited their abode. Walking back, William could only think as he walked back to his good acquaintances that this deal was truly temporary. Runick would outgrow this bargain and then there will be a fight.

As William exited the barrier he walked a little further before calling out. His three companions answered and William explained the deal. His recyclable corpse for nine children seemed incredibly fair. Weirdly none of them so much as flinched.

Grock only asked ”How do you want to die this time?”

William chuckled but then said “Quick and as painless as possible. You will have to mutilate my corpse after the fact so I don’t just regenerate. I suggest destroying my face and brain including my jaw bone. Anyways make it quick we are burning precious time for you to set up camp tonight.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

William then took off his clothing created a small linen towel then laid down, closed his eyes, and waited for darkness. It came swiftly.

Will then awoke an hour after his death as a skeleton. His corpse had been brutalized arms chopped off stomach disemboweled, and his entire skull separated into bloody pieces. William then dressed in his nearby clothing while it sagged across his skeletal frame he would grow into them in the next nine hours.

The night was calm and quiet not a single noise could be heard only the rattling of branches by a winter breeze. Once morning came the deal was struck. To William it appeared they fully expected the corpse to be in this type of condition.

William made a group contract with the Drageth Coven so that they couldn’t break the deal without him knowing. He had to word it carefully so that it wouldn’t disappear upon them completing a single instance of the deal but it seemed to work.

The first ore he had them look for out of his book was bauxite. Aluminum would be great to have as a resource for Runick down the road. The book said it was to the south in near a fork in a river and a dense lush jungle. William, even gave the hags a sample of the ore just so they couldn’t be mistaken.

Aluminum was not his first choice on metals he needed. As to render out the metal efficiently from the bauxite ore required electricity and a great volume of caustic soda. Besides these was a lengthy refinement process that needed to operate at extremely high temperature. But after he had the ore he could always get more.

The children were then released into his groups care. They were somewhat malnourished but they would bounce back in a few days. William fashioned a few litters so that the smaller children wouldn’t have to walk but also be carried easier. He also made pairs of snow shoes for all the children so they could travel a little bit faster.

All in all it was a great outing. Except now William and company had nine curious children now with them. They were all from the city and had never left it. They soon found out why they shouldn’t stray far from the group. As yet again hungry predators made their presence known.

William would never say it but he could really go for a magic carpet right now the constant whining of feet hurting or the wandering. He honestly wanted to toss them in a cage and haul it back to Runick but that wouldn’t improve his standing in the eyes of the children one bit. Two long weeks it took them to reach Runick.

By the end William was ready to shoot himself to put fear into them and stop the never ending whining. However he persevered, as he and his companions had finally reached Runick. The snow had just melted a day before showing that what Emilia had said about four strict seasons were true.

As they crested the final hill they saw a massive square of tents sitting in front of Runick. The legion was camped in an orderly fashion just outside the walls. Even as they approached the camp was different. In the center there were dozens of tents surrounded by both patrols and stationary guards.

William had Cluci edge them around the encampment as he needed to get a few things ready. The children upon seeing the walls were speechless exactly as William had wanted them to be the entire trip. Soon they were safely inside the walls.

William thanked his companions then led his gaggle of orphans to the mayor for safe keeping. At least, until he could find out how to get the rest to be released by the legion. Mayor Issabel was happy to take the young ones in. She quickly excused herself to tour them around Runick. William quickly thanked her then went on to find Irene.

He found her treating her husband within his workshop but didn’t interrupt her explaining how the lathe worked via the windmill. A few newly made extravagant metal paper weights were being inspected by Locke as William entered. Locke nearly dropped the weight as William opened the door. Greetings were held but Locke wanted to be rid of his special cargo as soon as possible.

Irene followed behind and as the three of them left the workshop William swore he saw sadness on both their faces. After William set up a table and chairs in front of the gate William was quickly taken to the center of the Legion’s camp. Once there a horn was blown alerting the adult petty criminals and orphans to gather.

William quickly made a large megaphone and a ten foot ladder so everyone would be able to see him. As he had walked with Locke he learned the legion had done exactly as asked. They had emptied the orphanages, the debtor’s prisons, and taken on the lesser sentenced criminals for William to sort out.

The true number was estimated at six hundred. Over a third of that was children the rest were petty criminals or debtors. Every single one of the adults had a craft evidently. William dreaded the administrative work he was about to fill out for every one of the new immigrants. However, but that worry was for later.

William scaled his ladder. The large megaphone attached to a piece of rope so he could haul it up. As William got to the top he looked out at six hundred people most of their eyes upon him. Some looked at him with anger, or hate. Others were curious or hopeful. The only similarity were they were all looking at him.

William then raised the megaphone from the ground. Once steadied with his tool in hand he spoke

“Hello and welcome to your new lives in the village of Runick. My name is William Willow. I asked all of you to be brought here."

"To not lie to you, I will start by telling you why you are here. Every single one of you is here to repay reparations made by the Imperium to the village of Runick for sacking it. However you need not worry as you will not be held prisoner you are free to roam as you wish."

"Do know you will be given work, those who do not work do not eat. As for you children those who do not attend my school do not eat. For you adults after supper you will attend classes at the school where you will also learn basic skills such as reading and writing you will also be taught an actual skill to speak to anyone in the village."

"If you feel like you don’t want to be a part of this village know that you are free to leave at any moment. However, you may want know, the surrounding swamps and forests are not nearly so friendly as this village. Please know that you won’t have to worry about coin as there isn’t a single piece here. As I said before you will be given food and shelter for free."

"This is a community of survival. All work is for the greater good. Your efforts go towards the better of every face you see here and everyone inside. There are many things beyond these walls that will not exit them. For those of you who have a craft know that your worlds are about to expand greatly."

"I ask every single one of you to be accepting of new ideas, to not doubt that which you see around you."

"Without further ado please form an orderly single file line outside the gates to be processed!”