“You seem awfully nonplussed for someone that just murdered a group of people,” Kurt angrily replied as he glared at me.
I had just finished going over what had occurred with the Stygian Order base with him and Martin. I hadn’t expected the man to get so up in arms about it but I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised. He did capitulate to a bunch of thugs instead of gathering his officers and driving them off. I think he still had that pre-System mindset that killing people should result in my arrest. It would be pretty funny if he tried. Well, funny for me maybe.
“Have you ever had to kill another human being?” I asked instead of just ignoring the man’s ignorant assertion.
I watched him flounder as his mouth worked uselessly for a bit. Eventually, he turned away before replying. “No.”
“Then you have no qualifications to judge my actions. I don’t kill because I enjoy it, I do it because it is necessary. Over the last year, I have had to kill more people than I care to count. You may think I’m cold or heartless, fine but I will reserve my emotions for those that deserve it. I will not lose any sleep over killing thugs and murderers that forced my hand with their actions.”
Kurt refused to make eye contact after my little speech, probably because he knew I was right. He would learn eventually. Getting worked up over killing a thug or someone who wanted you dead was just not worth it.
“Perhaps we got a bit off track,” Martin cut in. “We know there were at least six spies within the city. Paul, you said you spotted five of them within the outpost?”
“Yeah,” Kurt replied
“Good, that means the Sheriff’s forces managed to capture the final member. He is locked in that room you designed, Paul.”
I nodded at that. The room was a prison cell meant to hold enhanced people. Similar to what Lord Vik’t had held that Michael person in. Only, it was powered by runes instead of enchantments.
Kurt finally spoke up, “Surprisingly, it seems to be holding him. He had some form of Earth magic as his escape method of choice, but with the enhancements you made around town, he wasn’t able to flee like he thought and we eventually captured him.”
I ignored Kurt’s jibe. “Has he talked at all?” I asked instead, glossing over the previous disagreement we had.
Kurt shook his head. “The man refuses to speak. We have only done basic questioning though.”
I grunted in acknowledgment. “I doubt you will get anything out of him. Which leaves you with only two choices, kill him or let him go. Keeping him for too long could result in him finding a way to escape.”
Kurt’s face grew grim when he heard me say this. I realized he must have known these were the only two choices. Maybe that’s why he was so disagreeable about my killing because he knew he had to make the same hard choice soon.
“That decision can wait for the new Mayor,” Martin added, defusing the tense situation. “You wanted to meet with us to discuss something specific?”
I wanted to roll my eyes knowing Martin was likely to be the new mayor but I resisted the temptation. There wasn’t anyone even close to as popular as him within the city.
“I wanted to discuss arming the walls with mana cannons.”
Martin quirked an eyebrow.
“What are mana cannons?” Kurt asked.
“Well, I asked you two out to the edge of the city to demonstrate, first we need a target” I replied glancing at the lifeless stretch of barren rock in front of us.
We were past the walls on the north end of the plateau that the city rested upon. I scanned around until I spotted one of the ubiquitous rock elementals. If it wasn’t for my high perception I may have missed its resting form amongst the other boulders.
“There’s one,” I said, pointing to the unassuming rock pile.
Kurt looked over and grunted in annoyance, pulling his weapon and getting ready to kill the creature. Martin waved him off, “We’re here for a demonstration, remember.”
Kurt lowered his blade but didn’t sheath it. It was a smart move in case something did go wrong.
“Alright,” I said, “watch closely.”
The active camouflage disguising my prosthetic hand faded away as it cracked open extending the containment array.
While Kurt didn’t say anything I could see the surprise on his face.
I aimed the hand, which was made so much easier thanks to the runes built into it. A targeting marker only visible to me settled on the pile of rocks and I fired.
There was a streak of white energy as the mana burst from my weapon. When it impacted the elemental, it exploded, sending a shower of rocks and debris flying everywhere. A shimmering dome encapsulated the three of us, thanks to Martin, and the rocks and pebbles bounced harmlessly away.
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“That is a mana cannon, and a low power one at that,” I stated.
Kurt was speechless for a bit as he examined the crater in the distance.
“And you wanna arm the city with these? Why?”
“Do you remember when I said you had a rare thing here?”
“Yeah, I remember,” the man grumbled.
“Well, there are going to be people who want to take that from you. Walls are good and all to keep monsters away, but the real monsters are people and those from other worlds that covet what exists here. They will also covet what I have given you.”
“I knew I should have told you to fuck off,” he complained.
“That wouldn’t have mattered and you know it. Someone would still eventually desire your town for their own. And maybe this time you wouldn’t get lucky by just becoming a lackey.”
I could see the man’s balled fist turn white as he clenched them but he held his tongue.
“Alright, you made your point. What do you want for the weapons, and how many can you offer?”
“I can only offer ten at the moment, but they will be an upgrade over normal mana cannons. I call them mana lasers. The effect is similar but more focused so it uses less power per shot.”
“… seems too good to be true, what's the catch?” Kurt asked.
“They are expensive to make. The city will need to supply the materials to construct them and I will wave the price for the first ten.”
“If we are supplying all the materials, why should we be paying anything,” Kurt demanded.
“If you know anyone else capable of producing these weapons, feel free to ask them. Hell, I would be surprised if you could even find someone within the Bazaar willing to sell a mana cannon to you. They are apparently reserved for royalty and dwarves.”
“If they are so rare, how did you learn about them?” he shot back.
“I acquired them from a dwarven enclave we were forced to eliminate. But those were sold off, although I did copy the design, and save a few for myself.”
“So your damnable flying stone is armed,” he grunted, “I knew it.”
I didn’t deny the accusation, knowing he would have found out soon or later anyway. The man was rather irrational at times but he wasn’t a fool.
“Well?” I asked, “do you want them or not?”
Kurt was about to go on another tirade when Martin pulled him off to the side and spoke quietly in his ear. When they returned an agreement was made and we shook hands over the deal. Over the next two weeks, I would be supplied with all the materials I needed to produce the ten weapons. After that, I would leave town for an extended time to level.
***
“That man doesn’t like you much,” Martin stated as soon as Kurt was out of sight.
“Gee what gave you that opinion,” I deadpanned.
“You should make a token effort not to make everyone dislike you,” Martin replied. “Anyway, I hear you are stealing my girlfriend, what's that all about?”
“I guess you just aren’t man enough for her,” I replied with a smile.
He chuckled.
“But seriously, I need to level and so does she. We all do, but you are needed here and Ska seems to have decided that being a city guard is his calling.”
“Yeah, I’m aware. Maybe when all this nonsense settles down I can get out more. I am still joining a few of the patrols so it isn’t like I have stopped leveling completely. Who knows I may even hit level nineteen before you return. Fiona wanted to thank you for her recent level. She can now hold her human form for six hours.”
“Really, I hadn’t realized it made that much of a change.”
“Well, it certainly did. I haven’t seen her this happy in a long time. It’s why I’m not more worried about her running off with you to level. Maybe when she hits level twenty she can retake her physical form permanently.”
I only nodded. I didn’t want to get his hopes up in case that didn’t occur.
“It’s good that everyone is happy. I know losing Houston and the alliance was a major blow for you.”
Martin sighed, “it isn’t a complete loss. Carlson Hornwell took over to try and keep everything together in the meantime. But having Houston sitting in the center and controlling the Bazaar does hurt. Vegas denied our request to use their Bazaar, despite your help. So far no other teams have located another Bazaar on that side of the Spine. They seemed to crop up in areas where large volumes of people had lived but the northwest of the US was rather sparsely populated.”
“That’s not good. We seem to be slowly losing access to more and more Bazaars. I know there is one in Mexico City but that place was a warzone when I passed by. That leaves the few merchants traveling up to Nashville as the only ones that still have access to a Bazaar. Make sure they know not to mention ties with me or they could lose that as well. I will do some more scouting while Fiona and I level, maybe well get lucky and find something.”
Martin nodded but didn’t look wholly convinced. I couldn’t blame him. It wasn’t like these buildings just popped up in every city.
***
I spent the rest of the week churning out the new weapons for Saint June’s defense. With those, the shield, and the wall, it wasn’t likely anyone without significant time and resources could break into the city.
I overestimated the amount of mithril I required because there were some other items I was making that I had told nobody about. They wouldn’t be ready anytime soon anyway. But there was one item.
I walked up the stairs of the central spire. It was the energy emitter for all the shield towers on the walls. Nobody had seen me enter, and that was for the best. Scanning the room with my Tattoo, I made sure nobody was hiding on the top floor. The small area was devoid of anyone and I squeezed into the space.
Nobody had reason to come up here as the command and control was on the ground floor but it was left by the Earth Mages per my design. I ran my fingers across the low ceiling in a pattern. Glowing lines spread across the ceiling and a panel lowered, giving me access to the runic structure within.
I took out the large and awkward plate from my ring and moved it into the opening. Once it was in place, the lines flashed, letting me know it was inserted properly. I pushed the ceiling back in place and resecured the panel.
With that new item installed the entire city inside the walls now acted as an improved teleportation scrambler even if the shield was offline. It would also ping an alert to the command center and focus attention on the individual that attempted to enter the city. I had already told Martin and Kurt about adding this feature when I delivered the mana lasers.
Kurt was a bit less grumpy when he witnessed a demonstration of the new weapons. He still didn’t fully trust me though. While I thought he was an idiot, I could understand his concern. I was essentially responsible for the entirety of the cities defensive measures. Putting all that on one person meant it could all be taken away or subverted by that person. I had no way to assuage his worries though, I had built-in measures to see that none of these items could be used against me or the fortress. I wasn’t going to tell him that though.
The rest of my time was spent restocking the fortress and fixing some items I had neglected to fix. In the morning Fiona and I would head off and we may not return for months. I knew Martin worried about Fiona, but I think I worried more about what might happen to the city in my absence. But I couldn’t sit idle any longer and I had faith that the city could withstand an assault if it came to that.