Elas dressed into a simpler but still fairly formal black robe with silver embroidery. The rest of the day was one big festival to honor the emperor's grace. He walked across town towards the main hall where he and the other elders were expected to celebrate the occasion along with the town's elites.

Hundreds of braziers were spread around the town providing warmth to the people on the streets. The main hall was already packed with people when Elas arrived. So much so that even the street outside had been laid out with tables and chairs to accommodate all the guests.

Elas remembered when the hall felt far too big for the sleepy town. Now after decades of growth and the recent influx of refugees that multiplied the town's population things were becoming uncomfortably cramped. He squeezed through the crowd which tried to part to let him through with disappointing results.

Elas sat down on his chair next to the baron who was still absent. He presumed the man was taking much more time in his bath or more likely was tending to his exhausted wife. All the elders were already present on the table which surprised him as Rikia and Finnan usually leave town until far into the night during imperial rituals. After all they were both members of unsanctioned circles who do their best not to attract the emperor's attention.

Those without a crown might not detect the crown’s gaze but old stories and myths had long alluded to the strange pseudo-omniscience of the emperors. As such unsanctioned groups had made it a practice to avoid participating or even being around rituals in the emperor's name.

The Eternal Emperor might have ended his purge against those that refused his demands centuries ago but the wounds he dealt still lingered. The traditionalist circles' refusal to contort their ways and lay their secrets bare for the emperor was seen as treason even when they wholeheartedly proclaimed their loyalty to his empire.

The emperor had been far more tyrannical back then, a stark difference to the current lazy and apathetic rule. If not for the yearly ritual most of the current citizenry wouldn't even know he still existed given the crumbling state of the empire.

“I'm surprised the two of you found the guts to crawl back to his eternal majesty’s light.” He jabbed at the two mages who snorted back at him.

“Well I'm surprised you could still move that mouth after shaking your old arse for his majesty all morning.” Rikia retorted.

“Oh, The Eternal Emperor's light fills me with the strength to go on.” Elas responded with as much sarcasm as he could manage while clasping his hands in false prayer.

Finnan snorted so loud he had to look down to avoid spitting on the table. While Rikia stood up and swatted his clasped hands apart.

“Don’t!” Rikia hissed.

“You might just call his attention.” she continued with a whisper.

Elas grinned at her, unlike them he was well aware of the crown's limits and even if the emperor's crown had some improved vision he would detect if he was being watched. Aside from being scrutinized on the platform the only times he had felt the emperor's vision was when it was high up in the sky. No doubt looking at his domain from a satellite view.

Elas feigned pain in his hand where Rikia had slapped him as he looked towards the sky.

“Ah look at this infidel assaulting your most devoted servant, your majesty.” He continued with his sarcasm.

Rikia almost strangled him as she tried to block his mouth.

“Break it up!, break it up! you two”. The baron said as he arrived at the table.

Rikia went back to her seat grumbling while fumbling for something in one of her pockets. She took out a short gnarled stick covered with blue paint and snapped it in half. Elas felt an active ward move through the hall. The witch was far more scared of the emperor than he thought.

Finnan didn't seem to care all that much. Unlike the Winterroot witches the Heartfire druids have been much more overt in their dealings recently and have become comfortable with the emperor's inaction.

Farhaven’s elder council was made up of six people. Aside from Elas, Rikia and Finnan who were all mages there was Berian the woodcutter representing the town's main profession. Urman the carpenter represented the craftsmen and Callum the hunter represented the people feeding the settlement may they be hunter, farmer, gatherer or whatever else. Luka the commander of Farhaven’s military was also sitting at the table but he was far too young to be considered an Elder being barely older than the baron himself.

The baroness was absent, no doubt exhausted after the morning's ordeal. Elas reminded himself to give some vigor potions for the baron to deliver before he leaves. He should have given some to her before they started the ritual but the idea came too late.

Trays of food and drink were brought to the table which everyone indulged in until they could eat no more. From time to time people came to the table to seek an audience with the baron and the other elders. Elas just sat in his place as he was only really in charge of imperial rituals and as such had no one to seek his wisdom.

It was already sunset when the crowd started to break away as the people returned home seeking shelter from the cold northern night.

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A man came upon the main table asking for the baron to hear his pleas.

“Lord Baron, we seek only to have honest work.” The man pleaded while kneeling on the floor.

“We have no fields to till nor wood to cut or carve.” The man continued.

It seems he was a representative of the hundreds of refugees still stuck in makeshift hovels around Farhaven. The town's population had nearly doubled in the past decade and cracks were starting to show.

Baron Rein looked towards Berian, Urman and Callum.

“Is there really no more work to be done?” He asked them.

The Three elders nodded.

“We are already antagonizing the forest with our current activities. Adding more woodcutters would be declaring war on the denizens of the wilds.” Berian explained.

“Same with hunting sire, there is only so much we could hunt until there will be no more.” Callum added.

The baron glanced towards Urman who also shook his head.

“There are already too many craftsmen for the amount of materials available. And we could only build as many houses as the logs available. There is simply not much else to do.” Urman answered.

The baron looked towards the captain and asked the same question.

“My lord if it is your wish I can take in all the able men but only for food as we have little coin. And maybe with more soldiers we could challenge the forest for more space.” Luka proposed.

“And risk declaring war on the wilds I think not captain!” Berian exclaimed, backed up by Urman’s and Callum’s nods.

“Well then more men to stand guard I guess.” Luka voiced weakly as he tried to find some way to help his lord.

Elas had found his chance. He coughed to interrupt the conversation and present his plan to the baron.

“If there is truly a need for more work. I am willing to hire all of them to build an alchemical workshop, with the baron's support of course.”

Everyone around the table stared at him with shock. Noone expected him to propose anything after all he had never even bothered to take an apprentice in all his years in Farhaven and now he was proposing to teach an entire workshop of alchemists.

“That is a splendid idea, you will have my full support, Elder Elas.” Baron Rein was a little too quick to accept the solution he tossed out. Either he had full confidence that Elas could make it work or was just excited to push the problem to someone else.

“I'm sorry to ask Alchemist Elas but how will you sell your potions? Sad to say but I and my apprentices are already having difficulty selling salves and other minor remedies. There is simply not enough coin in Farhaven to demand such luxuries doubly so for your much fancier potions.” Rikia asked, trying to curb some of the baron’s unsubstantiated enthusiasm.

“Who says I plan to sell in Farhaven? If Baron Rein would so kindly provide me with the barony’s merchant charter. I wish to hire the caravan of a good friend as the official merchant caravan of Farhaven. This way not only can I send potions to be sold across the empire, the entire barony would be less reliant on small merchants for our trade.”

Elas proposed the plan with a deadpan face acting like he was doing everyone a favor rather than pushing his own interests.

Now he didn't actually have a good friend with a caravan, not yet at least. But with a signed charter and the promise of potions made by the grand alchemist he might as well have the empire's entire merchant population as friends.

Having no workable solutions of their own the rest of the elders could only nod their heads in agreement. They were not happy in giving him so much power over the town's trade but they would much rather have him hold the charter than a foreigner.

The refugee’s representative bowed and scraped while thanking the baron and his elders. His bowing was so vigorous he had slammed his head onto the floor more than once.

The baron grinned, agreeing to give Elas both space in the town's market and the merchant charter for free in exchange for dealing with the job shortage issue. Idle hands were a danger to the security of Farhaven.

Elas smiled as he solved one of his problems. He might be rich when compared to Farhaven’s general populace but his wealth had greatly depleted over the decades spent without income. The elders salary was not even enough to cover the cost of his vigor potions. The baron might not know it but without the handouts Elas wouldn't be able to afford his proposed solution.

The only merchants that frequented Farhaven were shady unsanctioned groups that traded food and mundane goods for wood in between the north's underdeveloped regions. These merchants would never be allowed near cities without getting tossed in the dungeons for not giving the emperor his due.

In order to control trade in the empire and ease taxation hefty tolls were placed on independent merchants that operated without a charter. A chartered trade caravan can waive off most of these restrictions with the intent being that the lord who sanctioned the caravan would pay a higher Imperial tax instead. It was far easier to keep track of landed nobility than wandering merchants.

The system also made it nearly impossible for a merchant to become large enough to challenge the nobility as they were tied to their sponsoring noble. With a limit of one merchant charter per barony it also curbed the nobility's power and enforced hierarchy as higher nobles with more baronies naturally had more share in the trade economy compared to their lessers.

Basically Elas had the baron subsidize his costs while packaging it as the solution for the town's problem.

Currently no merchant has ever offered to purchase Farhavens charter as the barony simply did not have enough supply or demand to make profit.

Farhaven may be surrounded by the prized Great Northern Pine but they were only allowed to log half a dozen trees a year based on the agreements with the forest and five of those logs were owed to the emperor.

Elas’s plan to make an alchemy workshop backed by his title as the Imperial Grand Alchemist would quickly solve the lack of valuable trade goods.

His potions alone would be enough profit to keep a caravan going but Elas did not intend to bind himself to brewing potions for several hours a day. Using the crown he should be able to separate those that had talent in alchemy from the chaff which he planned to use as herb gatherers or laborers for his other plans. It will take a couple months but he fully intends to beat the basics of alchemy into his recruits so that they can do all the brewing for him.