Tenver was silent for a short moment. A faint smile remained on his face, and his eyes never left Adam’s. Facing someone like this was always unnerving, but Adam refused to look away. It would have felt like losing.
His eyes are blue. That’s not common here, is it? He really should look into Tenver’s background soon. It seemed like an open secret, and he did have the authority to force someone to speak up if necessary.
“I’m the same as you,” Tenver whispered softly. Too softly. “I’m done with surviving – I want to live.” He stifled a chuckle at the end. Even then, he didn’t look away. “That could mean a couple different things, though. What does living mean to you?”
Not being afraid of the word ‘tomorrow’ comes to mind. Which was too much to share at the moment. Adam wasn’t stupid enough to immediately trust someone simply because they’d made a grand gesture proclaiming their loyalty. He’d admittedly been taken aback by Inacio’s decapitated head, but not so much to make him forget his principles. Ah, sure, Tenver had a point about how their fates were strung together.
But that was just for now.
What if the Emperor offered amnesty in exchange for betraying Adam? That wasn’t outside the realm of possibility, and Tenver had already proven he wasn’t averse to decapitating his superiors when it suited him. The grand gesture showed that they were on the same side at the moment. Nothing else. Better for Adam not to lower his guard or be too open with the man.
“First things first,” Adam grunted. “I need to make sure this city doesn’t get taken away from me. Once news of my Talent goes public, it’s going to be open season on trying to use me as a weapon. Figure the only way to keep me safe is this title I stole.”
“The title?” Tenver chuckled. “The Talent, more like it. Forget what you said about food earlier – any invading army encroaching inside your Domain is going to leave with heavy losses.”
“But preserving my Domain is going to involve keeping my royal title, right?” Adam insisted. “Hard to believe there wouldn’t be a revolt if the Emperor denounces me for treason and says he’ll raze Penumbria to the ground if I don’t surrender. And while we’re at it, how exactly does this work? Does my Domain encompass the entire city or...”
“The city and some land beyond it, where farming is done.” Tenver raised an eyebrow. “You can’t tell how far your Domain extends?”
Adam shook his head. “No.” He brought up his hand and studied it as though it held the answers he sought. “Just a general feeling that we are inside my Domain, and that it would be pretty easy to send someone through a wall. Can’t say I have a grasp of the specifics.”
Tenver nodded slowly. “That makes sense.”
It was also a lie.
Adam wasn’t about to let anyone know the extent of what he could do.
In truth, while he had some trouble measuring the exact extent of his Domain, he understood how his Talent worked pretty well by now. His tablet may have been an enigma, but it allowed him that much. Adam glanced over at the machine once more.
Dominion (Baron)
None can enter the domain without the Talented’s permission. Those without permission are forcibly ejected outside. Grants complete control over his palace’s stone. Has perfect knowledge of who is inside his domain at all times. Cannot die while inside his domain.
As he read it, Adam realized that there was a huge issue with the phrasing. His tablet explicitly mentioned that ‘none can enter the domain without the Talented’s permission.’ At the same time, Aspreay had expressed concern that Adam was some sort of spy. In fact, he went as far as to explicitly say spies could have entered the city against his will. Additionally, Tenver had just explained that an invading army would take heavy losses trying to invade the city, not that they couldn’t attack at all.
Did that mean that the phrasing on his tablet wasn’t reliable?
No, that was probably taking it too far. The best way to interpret it was probably that the phrasing was accurate – unless overridden by something else.
It was true that no one could enter his Domain. However, someone with a stronger Talent could likely break through regardless. A higher Rank, perhaps? Tenver would probably confirm it if asked, but Adam wasn’t keen on making the extent of his ignorance clear to someone he didn’t trust yet.
There was something else he wanted to confirm, though. “Hey, Tenver...can Lords recreate their Domain anywhere they want? Or is it locked in once it’s created? Do you know of any Lords that’ve done that before?”
The guard rubbed his chin. “There’s records of that, I guess. You’d have to look as far back as the Conquering to find someone who tried rebuilding elsewhere after abandoning their territory, city and subjects. My memory fails me, but I think that’s how the city of Abrigo came to be.”
“And considering that Vasco came to visit us, I imagine the Walls will stay up even if a Lord chooses to travel?”
“Even if they’re on another continent. Although they can’t use their Lord Talent while outside their Domain. Well, they can, but then the Wall would come undone and...you see the issue.”
Adam saw the issue, yeah.
He also saw his chance.
Probably better to keep quiet about that for now.
“When it comes down to it, the specifics don’t really matter. How about we get more pragmatic?” Adam asked, leaning forward. “Ultimately, Penumbria is the Empire’s dumping ground because we don’t have any Orbs. I’ve watched Aspreay for long enough to know that even though he was mismanaging our funds, there’s probably not enough to keep everyone here alive. We need to get more. Luckily, an opportunity has presented itself.”
“Lord Vasco.” Tenver crossed his arms and let out a thoughtful sound. “Got any ideas on how to convince him?”
I’m not beyond threatening to take his soul. There’s no way he knows I can’t do that whenever I want. Threatening his city is my go-to, though. “We need to find out exactly what our situation is first,” Adam continued. “How many Orbs we have, how many Orbs we get every month, how things are likely to change every–”
Tenver's hand once again disappeared inside that cursed bag of horrors. A moment of dread fell over Adam, the notion that the man would withdraw another severed head all too believable in that moment. To his relief, Tenver drew out a set of parchments instead, tossing them onto Adam's knees.
“I took the liberty of preparing those for you while you slept,” the guard jovially said. “I spoke with Roland and he was happy to provide me with everything we needed.”
“Really? He was Aspreay’s right-hand man. Why was he so helpful?” An idea came to Adam as soon as the question left his mouth. “Did...you ask him that right after you...” His gaze fell on the severed heads once more. That was still a difficult sight to stomach.
“Yes, right after. Why do you ask?” Tenver tilted his head in what appeared to be genuine confusion.
He honestly doesn’t know why that would make Roland – forget it. “Nevermind. Let’s take a look at the papers.”
Adam studied the parchments in silence for a couple minutes. While things didn’t seem so bad at first, they got worse the more he looked at it.
Penumbria had a population of under ten thousand people. That wasn’t unmanageable, but even then, it had way too many expenses and not enough Orbs coming in. To be blunt, if they wanted to keep everyone alive, they’d need to spend 5,050,000 Orbs per year. Currently, Penumbria was generating a mere 3,500,000 in revenue.
Worst of all, there was no way that those numbers were accurate.
——
Average Orbs needed for a citizen to live (poorly): 25,000
Estimated Population: 10,000
Incoming Orbs:
Taxes from Citizens: ϕ2,500,000
Direct Trade & Trade Taxes: ϕ500,000
Empire Grants: ϕ300,000
Income from Sale of Land and Properties: ϕ100,000
Other Sources (Fines, Fees, etc.): ϕ100,000
Total Incoming Orbs: ϕ3,500,000
Outgoing Orbs:
Keeping citizens alive: ϕ2,000,000
Trade Costs (including purchases of goods and resources): ϕ500,000
Maintenance of Castle and City Infrastructure: ϕ400,000
Military/Defense Expenditure: ϕ400,000
Bureaucracy and City Administration: ϕ300,000
Nobility Requests for Talent Rank: ϕ600,000
Rot Protection: ϕ850,000
Total Outgoing Orbs: ϕ5,050,000
——
“Okay,” Adam began, slowly. “I know this is incomplete and vague, but based on my brief analysis...we’re kind of fucked.”
“It does look that way, doesn’t it?” Tenver muttered. “Although there’s several things that are unaccounted for. Sometimes the Empire sends us vaguely-edible grain with which to feed the population. Helps keep costs down. We have more costs and gains here and there, but our documentation is woefully incomplete.”
“You mean Aspreay wasn’t good at keeping track of the city’s finances? Color me surprised.” Adam shook his head and let out a deep sigh, studying the numbers once more. “According to this, most of our income is coming from...taxes? No way that’s right. Can our people actually pay taxes?”
“The citizens of Penumbria are largely honest folk. Unfortunately, while their souls may be light, so are their purses. Not everyone can afford to pay. Lord Aspreay tried to avoid expelling as many of them as he could, for as long as he could.”
Meaning that he occasionally threw people out of the city when they couldn’t pay. He probably did try to keep those expulsions to a minimum...but at the same time, it didn’t seem like he’d held back on ‘castle maintenance’ expenses.
So he still hadn’t been trying hard enough.
“You don’t look overly concerned,” Tenver pointed out.
“Let’s say I have a plan or two. Just not sure how forceful Lord Vasco is going to force me to be.” Adam heaved another heavy sigh. “How about we call it for today? I know you said there’s plenty of work to be done, but I’m really exhausted after painting...all of those things. I really need to catch some more sleep before our meeting with Vasco.”
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Tenver nodded. “Tomorrow we need to move your belongings to the Lord’s tower, however. Can’t have the Lord of Penumbria living in a glorified prison cell.”
Ah, come on, that was a little harsh. Sure this room was a bit of a cube, and it was barred, and his only light came through a miniscule window at the top, but it was still nice enough. There was at least space for most of his supplies, even if they had to be piled up on top of each other in increasingly precarious stacks.
But hey. Sure. A better room would be nice, probably.
He kept his complaints from being voiced, and was quite proud to have done so as he watched Tenver reach for the doorknob. Suddenly, the guard turned his way and smiled. “Ah, my lord – one last thing. You needn’t worry about Aspreay’s husk. I moved his body to a safe tower. He was still breathing after all, so I figured you would want him alive as a hostage.”
Adam genuinely hadn’t thought of that. “That’s a good move. Well done.”
“Plus, in an isolated tower like that, we’ll know the names of anyone who wants to visit Aspreay’s mostly-dead body,” Tenver said, sounding disturbingly cheerful. “It’ll make keeping surveillance on loyalists much easier!”
“Uh...yeah, that’s true.” Didn’t you want to get things done the ‘right’ way? Through the law? How come you’re so down with this? “Thanks for your hard work, Tenver.”
The guard – was knight a better term now? – smiled proudly and left through the door.
–
Once he was alone, Adam shifted his attention back to the tablet, inspecting it as carefully as he could.
Name: Adam
Talents and Rank:
Painter [Novice]
Stained Ink [Apprentice]
Lord [Baron]
Orbs: ϕ3,345,384
Lifetime Orbs: ϕ3,345,384
Those weren’t his Orbs. Not exactly. They technically belonged to the city of Penumbria, and Adam had only gained access to them after stealing the Lord Talent from Aspreay. He could technically spend them, sure, but the common people were already struggling to survive without their Lord skimming Orbs from the top.
“Yeah, I’d rather not fall prey to the ‘money corrupts’ stereotype,” Adam muttered to himself. “Ending up as an even shittier Lord than Aspreay would suck.”
He could see how someone might end up like that, though. It really was tempting to succumb to that...or worse, to take ‘just a little’ and tell himself that it was for the greater good, that he would eventually repay it with interest, and everyone would end up winning. Better to curb that idea before a combination of weakness and arrogance hit him worse than raw greed ever could.
Adam couldn’t change what his tablet displayed about him, but he could make notes and change the information as an addendum.
Personal Orbs: ϕ25,000
Orbs: ϕ3,320,384
Lifetime Orbs: ϕ3,345,384
Good. It felt more satisfying to give himself a small ‘salary’ for working as the city’s Lord. And since the documents Tenver showed him earlier said the average person could make a poor living with only ϕ25,000, it seemed sufficiently not-greedy to take that amount for himself.
Even if he could technically use the other Orbs...he wouldn’t. Those were meant to improve the city. He would give himself a raise if he earned one. Until then, he could and should live like the poorest person living under his rule.
Granted, he didn’t have to worry about any expenses like rent, taxes, or food – meaning his ϕ 25,000 probably went a lot further than most people’s did. Still...it was hard not to give himself a little leeway after the amount of unpaid work Aspreay forced him to do. I better make sure to pay the city back in the end.
He wouldn’t have taken any salary at all if he could avoid it, but in this world, that just wasn’t feasible. No way in hell the people here are just going to let me take Penumbria unopposed. I have to prepare myself for a fight.
Which meant investing – in himself.
It was finally time to consider all the information he’d gathered over the last couple months. Adam quickly swiped at his tablet, bringing up the numbers he’d readied earlier.
Peasant / Novice ϕ5,000.00 Apprentice ϕ17,500.00 Craftsman ϕ61,250.00 Life Peer / Lord ϕ214,375.00 Baron ϕ750,312.50 Viscount
ϕ2,626,093.75
Earl / Count
ϕ9,191,328.13
Marquess
ϕ32,169,648.44
Duke
ϕ112,593,769.53
Prince
ϕ394,078,193.36
King
ϕ1,379,273,676.76
Emperor
ϕ4,827,457,868.65
As far as he could tell, he could improve his Talent by spending the amount of Orbs written in that chart. There was a chance some Talents took more or less Orbs to advance, but based on every bit of info he’d managed to scrounge up these last few months, this seemed accurate enough. He’d mentioned it to Tenver once or twice, and the man never gave a surprised reaction, so it was at least close enough to the truth.
The Orbs themselves appeared to be stored deep within his being, almost like his soul was his wallet. Actually using them wasn’t too difficult either – declaring your intent out loud was enough to use or give them to someone. Which meant you could probably rob someone by threatening their life, but at least you couldn’t just drop your wallet somewhere and be out of your life savings.
Despite Earth money being useless here, Adam still checked his pockets for his wallet every time he left his room.
“Let’s see...” He checked his list of Talents. “Anything I can improve?”
Painter [Novice]
Stained Ink [Apprentice]
Lord [Baron]
He most definitely could not improve his Lord rank – the jump from Baron to Viscount was absurdly steep. Not unless he was willing to literally burn down Penumbria, which he wasn’t.
In theory, Stained Ink could be upgraded to Craftsman if he borrowed more Orbs from the city, but that seemed like a dangerous precedent to set. Wonder how many people in this world go into debt telling themselves they’ll make everything back with their new-and-improved Talent.
That only left one option...which was the one he’d have picked anyway, all things considered. It was already his most useful Talent, and god knows what else it might be able to accomplish once he upgraded it.
“I will use my Orbs on my Painter Talent,” Adam declared to no one.
Painter [Apprentice]
He peered down as small Red Orbs exited his chest, harmlessly phasing through, before bursting into spheres that were incandescent, then translucent, then gone. It felt like watching a hologram, the spheres not seeming to affect his body at all.
The rank of his Talent changed just then – and with it, he found something new.
Painter [Apprentice]
Ability: Plagiarism of Souls
To plagiarize is to steal one’s soul. Understand it perfectly, commit it to art, and you will capture their very spirit and trap them within your medium. The target must see your art in order for this act to occur. In the case of there being multiple targetable souls, you may choose one to trap. Trapped souls cannot affect the Painter. If you fail to properly draw their soul, nothing will occur.
NEW Ability: Wager of the Heart
To gamble one’s Talent, their very heart. You may wager a Talent of yours. The accuracy required to succeed in your ‘Plagiarism of Souls’ is reduced, but if your painting fails to capture its target, your wagered Talent is instead transferred to the target. It remains with them until their death – upon which it is returned to you.
That was interesting in several different ways. First, Adam had gained more information on what his painting Talent did, and how it functioned. Second, it looked like each Talent could have any number of abilities.
Did he always get a new one after improving their rank or...no, that didn’t sound right. Aspreay could do a bunch of weird shit I haven’t managed yet despite having the same Lord Talent as him. There might be other things I have to do to master them.
But that was a thought for later. Right now, his main concern was how useless his new ability was. Frankly speaking, Adam saw very little reason to ever risk an entire goddamn Talent just to make the capture process slightly faster. There weren’t any downsides to using the regular painting ability by itself until it worked, so why risk things like that?
Maybe he could game the system by messing it up on purpose if he wanted to give someone a Talent, but that seemed far too reckless. Even if he somehow acquired so many Talents that he could just hand them out like gold medals, there was no way he’d ever trust someone enough for that.
Well, that sucks. Was hoping I’d get something to help me negotiate with Vasco...but this should still be fine. I have plenty of cards to play.
He hoped they would be enough.