On my way back to the palace from the farm, I stopped in at the Adventurers Guild to see how things were going there.
In the year since it had opened, it had proven to be a moderate success. For the moment, it remained more like a hunters association than anything else, as it would still be years before the introduction of magic meters fundamentally started to change the landscape of mages and healers. Most of the magical members only really did the bare minimum to get access to the graded MP potions, but at least they were registered and bringing income into the Guild.
Most of the active members either hunted meat or provided guard services. Arranging freelancers to guard caravans and convoys was easier than ever, at least for those leaving the capital, and streamlining how hunters brought meat into the city for sale had been a massive boon for the citizenry looking to add protein to their diets without getting price gouged.
The security of the local grain farms was also generally improved, as any threats outside the city walls that otherwise would have required more complex organization in order to manage could now get a rapid response by going directly to the Adventurers Guild. It was still imperfect, but it was a step in the right direction.
I checked the party recruitment wall, seeing a few notices of parties forming in order to hunt the northern part of the forest east of the capital. These hunting trips would probably slow down with summer approaching, since the heat made transporting meat back before it spoiled a bit more of a challenge. The Tamers Guild had started producing and selling sleds that could operate over rougher terrain for tarands or other tamed beasts to haul back carcasses, and I could see some hunting parties seeking out exactly that in their recruitment advertisements. A proper wagon would travel faster, though.
“Maybe we should cut a road east to the forest,” I muttered.
“That’d be a help,” came Horg’s voice from behind me. I looked back at my father, who gave me a wink. “Especially if the price of the self-powered iceboxes came down, as well.”
“Yeah, well,” I said with a sigh. “We’re having difficulty sourcing enough pearls, and I don’t want to cause a run on them just yet.”
As a boy, I had never had any competition in acquiring beast crystal from Mirut’s local shieldback population, nor did I have to look very far for blueclams to fish up deepwater pearls, both of which were ingredients for the high-end MP potions and also the source of self-powered enchantments. Once I started sharing the information with trusted sources and we began to industrialize potion development and early magitech, we quickly ran up against the limitations of our resources.
Not for the first time, I thought about how I could leverage my inventory to create storage enchantments. I would need to commit to creating 7-point magic, which remained a theoretical concept, though I was confident I could do it. What I was not confident about was how safe it would be. Manipulating time and space outside of the confines of the mysterious skill I had gained when I was a child had the potential to be disastrous, but if I was fearing the worst when in reality it was as safe as my inventory use was, then the spread of 7-point storage artifacts would seriously help transportation in the Kingdom.
“Anyway,” I said, turning away from the recruitment board. “I think it’s time we start thinking about expansion.”
“Oh?”
“As a proof of concept, the Guild is working out quite well. There’s no doubt it could be better, but part of the limitation is that we’re confined to the capital.”
“You’re thinking about Roko.”
“Right. As the trade hub for the Kingdom, it has far more need for something like this than we do. With their roads, transporting hunted beast carcasses would be easier, plus there’s more of a need for guards. At the very least, streamlining the hiring of guards for trips back north opens up more doors for the convoys who currently have to hire round-trip guards from the capital, which is even more difficult when they want to travel further away from Roko rather than heading right back north.”
“Which most do.”
I nodded. “Exactly. Roko locals would simply be a better fit for most career convoy guards, and having a Guild presence there should create a lot of synergy with this one here.”
Horg mulled that over a bit before commenting. “We need to streamline communications, so that the two Guilds can communicate faster than land traffic moves. So we need a Tamers Guild there too, for your messenger birds.”
“Yeah,” I said, although I had just assumed that would be the case. While both guilds had slightly separate functions, I more or less already saw them as part of the same larger institution, but I suppose Horg and Rena kept things a bit more disparate. “I may have some other tricks up my sleeve for that, too.”
Horg snorted. “I’m sure you do.”
While the number of people who knew about my telepathic abilities was quite low, I was already distributing artifacts that leveraged 3-point magic. Creating some “magical telephones” was definitely not out of the question. The main challenge I was facing with enchanting them was that I could only make them communicate with me, specifically, or with a single other artifact by creating a kind of pair bond during the creation process, one in each hand.
For most use cases, that could get unwieldy. If people on Earth needed a different cell phone for every person they wanted to call, they probably would not have become so popular. Unless I could create a telepathic switchboard, which I doubted I could, magic cell phones were not happening anytime soon.
For the Guild, though, a simple magical two-way communication device would suffice. Once there were more branches, one of them would likely have to act as a communications hub for the full Guild. My immediate response was to pigeonhole Roko into that role, since they already acted as a trade hub, but if there was no distance limit to the telepathic exchange then the communications hub could be in any of the locations, so perhaps it would remain in the capital. Some of the other locations that needed direct contact with Roko for trade purposes could still get their own two-way connection, too.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Perhaps I can also create a communications network for the Church to streamline census information and help legitimize citizenship a little better, too. If we could formalize birth and death records, licensing, criminal records, and other information, it could help stabilize the Kingdom even more.
“Well, I’ll get back to you on that,” I said, shaking off my thoughts for the moment. “I suppose the bigger question is who would manage a second Guild.”
“I can put together a short list of recommendations from our membership,” Horg said, scratching his chin. “Very short. We don’t have any Expert rank members yet, though, and definitely no Masters, but there are a few Golds. Though, one of them does not have leadership potential, for sure.”
“Hmm. Well, I’ll meet with them. Otherwise, maybe I can tap someone from my own pool of people.”
“You could,” he said slowly. “But if you truly want to keep the Guild and the crown separate, I’m not sure you should.”
“...Good point. Well, a Guild in Roko won’t be built in a day,” I said, thinking through the problem. I did ultimately want the Guild to stand on its own, but I was already planning to subsidize the building of the Roko branch and do whatever it took to make it work. Much of that could be behind the scenes, though, as I wanted the Guild to be a private institution, not an extension of the crown. “Perhaps it’s time I recommend to a few of my best to join the Guild and leave my service. Give you enough time to vet them. Maybe it should just be your decision entirely, although then I’ll be looking at you to clean up any mess that comes from it,” I said with a grin.
Horg sighed theatrically. “Well, it’s part of the job description.”
I clapped him on the shoulder and said my goodbyes before heading back out onto the street and making my way through the alleys until I could sneak back to the palace without much notice.
Once I was safely within the confines of the palace walls, I dispersed my Bil illusion and became Pilus once again, setting out to find Morgun, one of my top advisors and the man who had helped me get the local Guilds established.
“King Pilus,” he greeted me when I found him in the advisors’ office, standing and bowing.
“You can just call me Pilus, Morgun,” I said with exasperation.
“Of course, Your Majesty.”
I sighed. “Horg and I are starting to think about expanding the Guilds south and opening a Roko branch.”
Morgun raised an eyebrow. “I see.”
There was a moment of silence in the room, and I shifted slightly awkwardly. “Uh, well. You sort of ran point on that here in the capital, so I was thinking… you could head to Roko and get that going?”
“Are you asking me, Your Majesty?”
I frowned. “Well, I don’t want to force you if you don’t want to.” Though, I don’t know who else I would ask.
Morgun sighed. “King Pilus. I am, of course, at your disposal. But you are the king, and you really should be ordering me, not asking me.”
I shrugged. “That’s not really how I want to lead.”
Morgun shook his head and chuckled. “Yes, I know.”
“So you’ll do it?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Perhaps I could bring one of my juniors to train him on the procedures, as I assume you will want to establish additional branches in the future?”
“That’s a good idea. Thanks, Morgun. Get in touch with Horg and Rena to discuss the details,” I said, turning with a wave to head back out and see my wife and son.
“King Pilus,” Morgun called out, causing me to stop and turn back. Morgun was looking uncharacteristically nervous, so I turned fully and walked back to him, giving him my full attention.
“Is something the matter?”
The advisor pursed his lips, nodding once to himself, then looked up at me. “Once I return from Roko, I was hoping… I would like your permission to ask Nodel for her hand in marriage.”
I blinked at the man a few times, then laughed. Morgun frowned at my response, and I shook my head. “You don’t need my permission, Morgun. I take it that things are going well between you, then.”
A small smile appeared on his face. “Quite so.”
“That’s great.”
“It’s just that… well, she’s your lead advisor. If we were to have children, it would split her focus.”
“Ah, I see now. Hmm. If anyone can manage both, it’s probably Nodel.”
“Yes, she is… a spectacular woman,” Morgun said with a slight blush.
“If she needs to take time off for family, that’s fine. She’s been training up that new advisor, uh…”
“Harat.”
“Right, Harat. I’m sure she can pick up the slack.”
Morgun bowed. “Thank you, King Pilus.”
“Don’t thank me, I didn’t do anything. Good luck with the proposal.”
I parted from Morgun, wandering the halls from the advisors’ office towards my own lodging and family. Good for them, I thought with a grin. Nodel had a tendency to be a bit stern, but I had seen her with Mari and Varus, and seen her gush over Siral, and I knew that she would be a great mother if that was what she wanted. We had long since resolved any issues about the awkward declaration of her love near the start of my reign, but I was truly happy to see that she had properly moved on.
Leiren had also started seeing someone, a Velgein man she had helped in her role as ambassador. We had finally built a proper embassy outside of the palace grounds, where she spent most of her time now, only making occasional formal visits. For a while, it had seemed that she and Regan were an item, but that had apparently ended poorly. The soldiers in his command ended up getting trained pretty hard in the weeks following that, but things had settled down afterwards. He had trained a bunch of units in tarandback sword combat already, having quickly become extremely proficient himself.
Atlessoa, on the other hand, had shown no indication of a dating life. Of course, if anyone could hide something from me, it was probably her. I didn’t pry, but I did hope she was finding some happiness in her life and not just burying herself in her work. Her spy network has become a tremendous and invaluable resource, helping to maintain the peace in the Kingdom, and all her work showed, but there was more to life than work.
My own work worries faded away when I returned to our quarters and found Sera sitting on the floor playing with Siral. She beamed at me when I entered the room, and as always, my heart warmed at the sight of my family.
“Welcome back,” she said as I leaned down to give her a kiss. I smiled and settled down next to her to play with our son, leaving the business of the Guilds and the Kingdom behind.