Chapter 71: Smoothing things over
Location: Magicon Empire; Axtendus Duchy; Silvani System; Lombar; New Sildan
After leaving the store and Mom’s words of encouragement, I take in the city beyond. It is not like I expected. I’ve seen my fair share of cities now, but nothing like this. It’s just one store next to the other. Nothing else as far as I can see. There aren’t even any skyscrapers… only very luxurious-looking stores. One is fancier than the other, but nothing is higher than five stories.
Still, I notice a bit of a difference, or let’s say separation. The store, or better store complex we just exited, takes in a lot more space than the others around. There are a few others that are bigger than most, but nothing comes close to the Valterion store. Is it like a sign of prestige how big a store you have here?
Another question enters my head immediately after, where do the people live? Is there even a residential quarter? Or is everything just stores? That would be insane, right? “Where are we going, Mom? And where do all the people live?”
“I’ve got to smooth things over at system admin… It’s just up ahead.” She points at the only building that doesn’t have a big glassy façade facing the street. Now that I look at it, it does stand out quite a bit. Why haven’t I noticed before? I look at another building beside it and the admin building just kinda blurs over. Huh? Is that a spell to make it less noticeable?
Meanwhile, Mom continues speaking. “As for where the people live… The planet is actually quite uninhabitable. Only New Sildan here and Sildan a couple of kilometers away were made habitable. Sildan is also where all the people working here live. It was the original settlement on the planet.” She pauses, looking around. Then she heads for an empty bench in the middle of the road. “Here, let’s sit down a bit and I’ll explain.”
“Okay, sure, if your meeting isn’t too time-sensitive, I won’t say anything against it… It’s always nice to learn new things.”
Mom chuckles and continues. “No worries, they don’t expect me anyway. Currently, they are probably searching for an unknown person who caused problems in the system earlier. I’m just doing them a favor… And maybe stop them from banning me for a few years.” She shudders at the thought.
“Anyway, the settlers noticed early that the system wasn’t worth expending further resources on. There is only one planet here and even terraforming a small part of it was expensive as hell. The settlers were about to abandon the whole system when one of them, Jason Silvani, had an, at this time, outrageous idea: Why not build a bunch of space stations and lure in companies to open up stores with very cheap prices.”
She suddenly starts laughing. “You see how that worked out. Jason probably never expected that his idea with cheap prices would make such a turnaround… Over the years, more and more stores opened, and today almost every company in the whole Empire has a store somewhere here. Prices started to rise and now store rents are just outrageously high. Down here on the planet, the most exclusive brands have their stores and when Sildan wasn’t enough anymore, New Sildan was built and all the workers stayed in the old town, that’s why you only find stores here in the new town.”
“Crazy… So, can you say how much the rent is for the VHI store here?”
Mom snorts. “I better don’t… Let’s just say you probably could buy a planet for the yearly rent in other nations...”
A freakin’ planet? Holy smokes! “Wow, what happens with all that money?”
“Well, a lot gets back to The Empire as taxes, but the rest lands in the accounts of the Silvani family. It’s only a matter of time until they get their own duchy, I guess. They just miss the powerful Mages in their family, but young Timothy shows potential… He’s your age by the way, so keep an eye out when you meet the other young nobles in the future. But that’s enough about politics for now,” she chuckles and gets back up. “Let’s finish this, if you want, we can go check out a few stores after.”
I nod eagerly. “Yeah, I’d like that… But say, is it a good or a bad thing if the Silvanis get their own Duchy?”
Mom thinks a bit. “Well, while I think we are currently quite good with four Duchies and the Royals if it becomes necessary to form a fifth Duchy, the Silvanis are probably the best bet. They don’t exactly push for more influence like some other upstarts and that’s a good thing in my opinion. I also like Samira Silvani, that’s Timothy's mother, but yeah, you will get to learn a lot more about all that noble stuff in the future. I don’t want to overwhelm you right now.”
I shrug. “Okay, thanks. It was already quite a lot, I have to say, let’s continue so we can go shopping.”
“That’s my daughter,” Mom laughs, and we enter the admin building through the sliding doors. I notice the magic in the air and after we’re through the door, everything sharpens a bit. I don’t know how else to describe it, but I guess I was spot on with my theory about the magic that makes the building slide into the background.
That said, the inside looks just like your typical admin building. There are chairs to the side with loads of people waiting on them and the reception desk is manned by an older woman and a slightly younger man. The man is currently talking to someone, and the woman must have just finished up with her conversation, as she is currently alone and sorting some things on her desk. Mom walks up to her with purpose, and I’m right beside her. To my left, I notice another man who started walking toward the desk too. He scowls upon seeing us.
“Please draw a number on the terminal to your right,” the woman says with an annoyed voice without looking up. “Once your number gets called, you can come up here… There are others before you in line.”
“Oh, I’m not here to steal your time… I just wanted to ask if Peter is free at the moment, then I'm out of your hair.”
The woman starts looking up. “Mister Silvani’s timetable is none of your concern. He’s a busy man and doesn’t meet with some random people who have complaints. That’s why we are here. So please, I ask you again to draw a number or I’ll have you remov…” She trails off, upon fully looking up and her eyes go wide. “Uh, I, sorry Lady Duchess for not recognizing you earlier… Mister Silvani is currently in a meeting, but It’ll finish in the next ten minutes. I take you know the way to his office?”
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Holy smokes, another one of those complete 180s… It’s almost like a different kind of magic. The room also goes completely quiet and there are a few whispers of
“Duchess Valterion.”
“Oh my god, Carl’s never going to believe this!”
“What’s she doing here?”
I hold back a grin at all those voices. This is my life now! No more hiding who I am, no more running, just a bunch of privileges. Ah, and I guess with the new life also come a few duties, but I’ll see. For now, I’m just gonna enjoy it and watch how Mom does her thing.
Speaking of her thing, she just waved the woman off and starts walking around the reception desk toward an elevator in the back. I quickly follow her, and we wait in silence. After we enter the elevator, I can’t hold back my curiosity anymore. “Why does everyone recognize you? Are you as the Valterion Duchess so famous that everyone knows you? That’s a bit ridiculous… I mean we aren’t even in your Duchy.”
She laughs. “No, not at all. This has nothing to do with me being the wife of your father. It comes from my side of the family… You see, I grew up as Jasmine Benson.”
“What?!” I blurt out before I can stop myself. Benson is the family behind Magicon! Wait. Does that mean? “That’s why the panel said DNA match…” I mumble under my breath. I’m talking about the panel in the Magicon headquarters back on Earth. Maja said the match was a fluke, but if Mom is a Benson, that explains things.
“What was that?” Mom asks.
“Nothing important, you can continue…”
“Uh, yeah, so I’m the granddaughter of the Emperor and as such, I was pretty much the Face of Magicon during my childhood and teens. I’m still doing promotions from time to time and so my face is probably the most famous in the whole nation… I worked hard over the years to get at least recognized as Duchess. Before that, I was always the Magicon Princess or just the Magicon Girl.” She grimaces a bit in the end.
“Holy shit, will you ever stop surprising me?”
She chuckles and pumps a fist into the air. “Yes, I made her swear!” Oh my god… Is she serious right now? Luckily, the elevator arrives before I can bang my head against the wall.
We step outside and right into a waiting area. A woman calls out from a desk to the left. “Duchess Valterion, Mister Silvani will see you in about ten minutes. You can wait here or go out to the rooftop garden if you want. I’ll get you when he’s ready.”
Mom looks at me with a raised eyebrow. “Let’s head outside,” I say, “I’d like to catch a bit of a view.” We’re on the fifth floor after all. The highest you can get in New Sildan. She nods and we exit through a sliding glass door next to the woman’s desk.
The city looks amazing from up above. The fancy stores with their designs make everything look kinda magical. Not in a literal sense of course. I can even see the Valterion store from here. Now that I look at it from a distance, I notice something else and gasp. “Is that an actual starship on the roof?” I ask in disbelief and Mom nods while chuckling.
“It is. It’s also a special one. A ship with history. It was built by Conor Valterion himself. Do you know about him? He was the founder of the company, back when Earth still existed.”
Wow, she really doesn’t know. I can’t wait to see her face when I tell her. I suppress a laugh and answer her awkwardly. “Uh, yeah… Yeah, I’ve heard of him. That ship must be pretty old then, right?” I barely manage to say that sentence without grinning…
“Oh yes, it is… It’s more than 11,000 years old.” She scratches her chin. “Come to think of it… Your Stargazer looks almost as old. You don’t know how old the ship is, right? Where did you get it anyway?”
“Uhh, not really, no… As for where I got it? That’s still a surprise.” I flash her a bright smile and she just shakes her head.
“This story better be good, or I’ll have you clean the whole house,” she threatens me jokingly.
“Oh, it will be.” I see the receptionist woman stepping through the door in the corner of my eye. “Oh, I think it’s time for your meeting.”
Mom turns around too, and the woman waves us in. “Yeah, looks like it is. Let’s hope I don’t have to pay too much…”
“So bad, huh?”
“You have no idea.”
Peter Silvani’s office is one of those artificially old-looking ones. His desk is made out of solid wood and the walls are covered with wooden shelves. There is a lush dark blue carpet on the floor and the grav chairs are covered with actual black leather. I let out a silent whistle when I see this. Mom wasn’t joking when she said the Silvanis were rich.
Peter Silvani himself looks like he is in his forties with a few grey streaks in his dark brown hair. He has a sharp face and surprisingly wears a pair of glasses. That’s strange. Fixing eyes is as easy as sealing a cut on your finger… I wonder if there’s a story behind it or if he just wants to look smarter… They suit him after all. Like a smooth businessman, he wears a dark suit of course, and sits behind his desk while smiling at Mom. I don’t think he acknowledges me…
“Welcome, Jasmine. To what do I owe this pleasure? Sit down, sit down. Your aide is free to sit as well.”
Aide? Is that what he thinks I am? Hmm, Mom sits down without saying anything… Looks like she goes with his assumption… Probably because she still wants to keep me secret, she did swear all the others to secrecy after all. I shrug internally and sit down in the other grav chair.
“Well…” Mom starts. “I don’t think you would call it a pleasure if you knew why I’m here…” She grimaces a bit. “You see, I caused a bit of a ruckus here in the system earlier…”
Peter stares at her wide-eyed. “That was you?!”
“Yeah… Sorry about that. How can I make it up to you?”
Peter clears his throat. “You don’t make it easy for me, do you? Had you been anyone else, I would have been forced to bring you in… But I also can’t let you go with a simple slap on the wrist though. The others will have my head…”
Mom nods sheepishly. “I expected that, so what do you want?”
I alternate my gaze between both of them. They talk like old friends! And one of them, Mom in this case, just broke Peter’s favorite toy or something. Just what was that bit of a ruckus she caused?
“Well, you almost blew up one of the stations up there with your exit,” he points to the sky.”
“I had a good reason though,” Mom glances at me, but Peter doesn’t seem to notice.
“I’m not asking why, I do believe you, we’ve known each other long enough, still… I have to ask something of you… Let’s say the next five starships for free?”
Five starships? Holy smokes that’s a lot of money! Mom seems to agree.
“Are you crazy? That’s way too much. I can give you one.”
“I can’t do that… Your actions led to a five-hour standstill in all system traffic. I have to ask for four.”
Mom sighs, but I see a slight grin on her face, that quickly disappears. “Fine… let’s meet each other at three ships.”
“Agreed, but at least in the regular Senior sizes.”
Senior sizes? Wait, do they classify ships according to the Mage power level who can fly them? Then regular means without any Magitech to enhance the Space Mage’s influence. If I remember correctly, that’s a minimum of 500 meters in length! That’s four Stargazers in a row…
Mom holds out her hand to shake. “Alright, let’s seal the deal.” They shake and Peter leans back in his chair afterward.
“Good, now tell my Jasmine, why you finally decided to take a young woman from your family as an aide? You hadn’t had one in the past twenty years.” For the first time, he looks at me. “And such a beauty… Whose daughter is she? Alejandro’s?”
Mom shudders. “No, not Alejandro’s! Are you crazy? As if he could sire someone this beautiful… But yes, something changed, and I thought I’d give it a try. So far it works out.” She ends her sentence with a wink in my direction.
They continue with a bit of chit-chat, but I’m left to my own devices. Twenty minutes later, Mom and I leave the building through Peter’s jump room. I’m still thinking about the sums of money that just changed hands, just to smooth things over…