273. CHAIRPERSON: WIREMU

Mayakku and Laura spent the next week reviewing the formation rune by rune and line by line. Essential Traders was up and running, and Maia, Tama and Mata became legal persons. Tabitha was incredible, although I suspect she might be on her way to owning half of Freebourne. I started some new accounts at the Republic Treasury.

A committee ran the Enchanters Guild. Laura was a member of the committee, but they only met monthly. She arranged a meeting with the Chairperson, and I went with them as Maia. Maia was a bit different to Dianne in features and hair. The Chair was a portly, elderly man called Matua, who had retired from his business, which his son now ran. The advantage of getting Matua on board was that he knew everybody important in the city. I got the feeling he was someone very important in the city.

“Laura, darling! It's lovely to see you. Come in. We have put the kettle on.” We went in. He had a nice house, but it wasn’t like the Mansions in Kirghiz. It was a nice house. He led us into a sitting room, and a young girl brought in the tea. “My granddaughter, Anahira.” he introduced her with pride in his voice.

This was making me homesick. This was the culture I was used to. Tea and biscuits and family. No mansions, no bowing and fancy performances. Just tea, homemade biscuits and extended family in a normal house. This is what I lost when my village was raided.

We chatted. Matua was fascinated with Mayakku. I think she was the first Catkin he had met. Animalkin were rare in this part of the Republic. There were more in the southern areas. Mayakku talked a bit about her travels; of course, they all had Enchanting in common. Matua carefully included me in the conversation, and I could relax my accent to talk.

Laura brought the conversation around by saying, “Mayakku says she spent some months travelling with Wiremu Hunter.”

“Really, dear? What is he like?”

“He is just a normal person. He likes his hunting. He is easy to get on with. He is a very generous person. I was just a new Journeyman Enchanter when we met, and through his generosity and help, I am now one step from being a Master with five Specialisations.”

“You say he helped you, but he is not an enchanter?” Matua queried.

“No, but he is very intelligent and insightful. He is also a Monster Hunter, so he provided monster cores and spiritual materials.”

“The man grows every time I hear more, and this is not just a rumour. Are you under contract to him for all his help?”

“Not directly. His sister employed my family for a while, but I left them to help finish his dream.”

“He has a sister?” Matua looked at me, “Are you his sister?”

I shook my head with a small laugh, “No, I am not his sister.”

“But you are a lot more than you seem. My senses are still sharp; don’t think I missed the snake in your jacket. I assume it is a bond. Would they like something to drink?”

I shook my head, “He is fine for now, thanks,”

Matua looked back at Mayakku, “Tell me about this dream, Wiremu Hunter has and about his sister, please.”

“I think Wiremu and his sister adopted each other in difficult times. They are not blood-related, and no, I am not going to tell you who she is. Wiremu’s dream is to be able to remove the slave class from people without using Slave Taskmasters. He thought this could be done through enchanting, powered by monster cores.”

“That sounds,” he paused in thought, “I was going to say impossible, but you are here for a reason.”

Laura interjected, “She has done it. I have seen it. Just going over it with her levelled my Class and several Skills. She is a genius.”

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It was Mayakku’s turn to be embarrassed. Good. She also deserves the recognition. I think she is a genius as well. Matua was looking at her, amazed as well.

“It hasn’t been tested yet. We don’t know if it even works,” Mayakku tried to calm everybody down.

Matua was still sharp, “And to test it, you need slaves. I see why you have come to me. I know who we can talk to, but it will take some convincing.”

I decided to interject, “We need more than access to slaves. We need protection from the Empire.”

“Ah, that is why you are here,” Matua said, looking at me, “You are protection. Yes, this genius will need protection.”

“We were hoping this could be presented as coming from the Enchanters Guild rather than from me,” Mayakku said.

“Hmm. That is possible. It would require a resolution from the committee and some of the members are more aggressive in their business practice than others. There are two other problems. Once you present this to a committee, it will leak. It will spread like wildfire. The other issue is you, Mayakku. You stand out. You are a foreigner, and this is new and appears suddenly. It is always going to come back as being from you.” He thought for a moment, “plus, you need recognition for it.” He paused, “I can see the problem. If this works, you will become a bigger target for the empire than Wiremu himself.” He thought some more, “If this works, what is your plan for it?”

“Wiremu wants it distributed as widely as possible. He wants everybody to have access to it. If it works, it should be easy to operate, but it is not easy or cheap to build, and it won’t be cheap to operate.”

“No, it won’t if it runs on Monster cores.”

Laura spoke again, “Mayakku had an idea she might get around that with something called Flesh Enchanting.”

I shouldn’t have let her speak in front of her.

“Flesh Enchanting? I thought that was a myth.”

“Mayakku and I would like that to stop here. In fact, Laura, that is a breach of contract.” Laura paled. The contract did not specify death as a penalty, but she knew my threat and now knew the stakes.

“I am sorry, I…”

“If it helps, I could sign a confidentiality contract,” Matua offered. “I really want to be a part of the history being made here.”

I looked at him carefully. Everything my senses told me was he was being straight up, but he had a lifetime of experience in business. These older people are likely to have skills I have never heard of, let alone the level of the skills I have heard of. Our recent run-in with Lord Nelson has given me a new sense of caution around old folk. I didn’t see much choice here. We wanted to move forward. We had to start working with somebody.

“I have a standard Enchanters Contract here we could use,” Matua said.

I read it through and changed some parts. I then filled in my details.

“The agreement is with the Black Rock Mercenaries? Who are they?”

“A recently formed Mercenary group of whom I am a member.”

Matua signed without further question. We then went over how much he could share to get us access, and if that wasn’t enough, he needed to contact us.

“I imagine we will be arranging a meeting at best anyway,” he said.

Two days later, Mayakku was contacted about a meeting the following day with the Mayor and Chief of the city Patrollers and colonel of the Defence Force Garrison. Matua has certainly pushed all his weight around to get those three together. They would have support staff. This was going public, and we don’t even know if it works.

I first copied the latest version onto thin Granite Tablets and couriered one to Tāttā at the Elemental Traders, one to the King of Kirghiz and one to Kelda in Hrothgar. I added a note to say it was untested, but others can pick up where we left off if we don't survive. Mayakku decided on a name she wanted for it. She wanted it called the Ilaiya Formation after her younger brother, who died trying to protect her from becoming a slave. I almost cried when I heard that. He had been my first apprentice and would have made a gifted Hunter. I made sure Mayakku was noted as the sole creator.

After that, we prepared for the meeting. I would go as Maia, as Matua already knows me as that. Ruku would come as a second guard. He now has the name Wai Paihana, which is the same name as his bond. I thought it could get confusing, but he was fine with it. He is also an official member of the Black Rock Mercenaries under that name.

Tabitha said she would be close by. We haven’t seen much of her over the last two weeks, but she has come through with everything we needed. Mayakku will ride Cōmpēṟi, so he is an obvious backup. Astrid will park one of our wagons containing Modrica, Umreti and Težka in a nearby street in case we need some heavy persuasion.

I am expecting trouble. I fully expect them to try and “detain us for our own protection.” How aggressively they try is the only variation I expect. There will be rewards and enchanting laboratories and materials offered, all intending to put us, Mayakku in particular, in a cage.

I desperately hope that the first combined operation of the Black Rock Mercenaries is not killing the leaders of Freebourne.