Viceroy of Hell (18+)

“Me? Mayor of this town?”

Aesel nodded. “No one else in Farisle is more capable than you.”

I wanted to manage a company, not a town. Sure there were a lot of perks in becoming this island’s mayor, but that meant dealing with Goldenwheel. I wouldn’t wanna work under them – in fact, I’d hate to work under anyone at all.

“What do you think?” I asked the three below.

Sae shrugged her shoulders and Horeln didn’t have anything to say.

“’Yer the bigger fish now, sire,” Rulof said.

I removed the tricorn from my head.

“My answer’s ‘no, thank you,’ Aesel.”

“Sire, I believe ‘yer the most capable man ‘ere. ‘Ya got blacksteel and ‘yer a mage of all elements!”

Aesel placed a hand on my shoulder. “I believe so, too. We barely know each other, but you’re one of the very few people I’ve met capable of manipulating more than two elements.”

“What about Goldenwheel? They still own this island.”

“They barely care,” Aesel said, “Farisle had seen ten mayors since its inception three decades ago. All Goldenwheel cares about is what we can give to them.”

That was the point. I only wanted the spices for myself and no one else.

I didn’t like the idea of being a mayor, but how different would it be from managing a trading company?

The pros of “owning” this island – these islands, rather – meant I had access to every resources it could yield. And, with enough convincing, I might gain Xitlachtan’s help for building spice plantations here.

The problem was I would have to start from scratch. This town barely had enough people to cover the labor expenses of building plantations and factories. Not to mention I had to convince Farisle’s people to work for me.

I declined way too fast.

“I… I take back what I said, but I’ll think about it carefully.”

After asking for the whereabouts of the blacksteel, Aesel offered to lead us to the basement. Or at least what was left of the basement.

I was about to raise an earthen stair, but Aesel stopped me.

“You wouldn’t want the rest of the mansion to collapse.”

“Why?”

She stared at me in confusion.

“Because of elemental displacement?”

Elemental displacement? Elemental displacement… oh, right. Exactly how it was meant.

“That’s nuts. I don’t conjure elements from thin air?”

She stared at me even more confused.

“Why would you? It’s a basic foundational principle. How could an ascendant forget about that?”

I chuckled. Two reasons could counter that. One of it was lying about amnesia, but I’d rather not bring that shit up.

“What can I say? You forget the basics when you remember the more advanced ones.”

She sighed. “It makes me wonder how a young desert human achieved such status.”

“You sound old.”

She glared at me.

“Uh, let’s just talk about magic stuff next time. I want to see my blacksteel.”

Elemental displacement sure sucked. If I couldn’t cast elements from thin air, then elemental magic might as well be a fancy form of telekinesis. It changed my view of this world’s magic, though.

Instead of stairs, I made an ice slide. With ice, I could at least pull moisture from the humid air.

Half of the basement was buried under debris.

“The rums are gone,” Rulof said, witnessing the buried barrels and trying to salvage some of it.

“And the wine… some of it,” Horeln added.

Good thing the stuff they stole from us was kept on the opposite end. Not one thing was missing from the sacks.

“You will own more than that if you’re the mayor of this town. Everything in this mansion will be yours, and perhaps anything else you’ll desire outside, too.”

Aesel looked suspiciously seductive. She really was eager to make me the mayor of this town, huh? But if she could betray the former, I bet she could easily turn a traitor against me.

What a dangerous person.

“How many mayors have you betrayed?”

Her expression turned serious. “Just Ivanoi.”

“How long have you been here anyway?”

She proceed to tell me a short story about herself. Aesel was a wanderer that happened to land here from her years of travelling. When she realized this place was perfect for settling down, she seduced the mayor.

Aesel closed our distance. Her metal talons hit the ground with short, loud clangs. Soft fingers traced my lips down to my torso. She stopped to gently cup my bulge.

“But he’s incompetent. A foul-smelling fool. I’d hate to spend the rest of my life tolerating such a creature.”

My belt buckle clanked as she undo it. I grabbed her hand.

“Why me, then? I’m a nobody.”

“You already proved yourself capable today.”

Her dark eyes locked with mine as she patiently fell to her knees. Horeln and Sae swiftly turned around after witnessing the scene. Aesel sure was bold.

“I’ve had my eyes on you since I first saw you.”

My belt came off with ease, slithering her thin arms like a snake.

“You have such a rich ethereal network, unlike anything I’ve seen before.”

My dick plopped out as soon as my pants dropped. Aesel smiled at the view.

“Very rich...”

She cupped my balls while gently teasing the tip. As soon as it erected, both hands wrapped the shaft. My dick twitched from her cold hands.

A snake constricting its prey. The image of a python squeezing its living food to death came to mind. How different was that from this?

What about becoming a mayor? Was it better than founding my own company? And if I agreed then I might as well be dancing on Aesel’s palm.

My brain melted at such thoughts rushing through it. The sexual act ceased to exist in my head, so my dick went flaccid.

“Anything wrong, dear?”

“I’m tired,” I said, pulling my pants up, “and you… you’re suspicious.”

“I already told you – I hated that man.”

“You were his wife.”

“I did it to survive.”

“And you’ll betray me the moment I stop being useful.”

I trudged out with the sacks, and the three followed suit.

“Wait! You don’t understand!”

People stared at us on the way to the inn. They just witnessed the mansion collapse, watching four people covered in dust come out of it. Some debris rolled all the way down town.

Walking through them was like Moses parting the sea.

Regardless, we encountered no more trouble. Sae wanted to eat, so I left the two with her to eat lunch.

I hopped on the bed. I was too exhausted to even bother cleaning myself. Sure I could lift a boulder, but my brain said otherwise.

It was dark when I woke up. My eyes naturally adapted to the darkness, revealing the wooden ceiling overhead.

I liked Aesel, but her betrayal bothered me.

Was she really that distrustful? I jumped conclusions quickly without hearing more from her side. But instead of explaining herself more she opted for a blowjob on the spot. That was suspicious.

And becoming this town’s mayor wouldn’t be so bad. I’d have better options than managing a trade company. I could implement laws that suited my management style. And starting from scratch, although it sounded tedious and challenging, allowed for better flexibilty.

And what could stop me from founding a company even if I had a town to govern?

My stomach grumbled from hunger. My body was itchy all over, too. So I went out.

It was quiet below. Hopefully Llera left some food.

Aesel sat in the lobby alone, playing with the lamp fire on the table. The plank creaked from my steps, attracting her attention. She stood up.

“I wish to tell you more.”

I sat from across her.

“If I could, I would have killed that mayor myself,”she said right away.

But if she did so, men in this town would be scrambling to fill the role. And filling that role meant filling the husband spot. She didn’t want any more disgusting, incompetent men ordering her around. So she thought of searching for any capable foreigners to replace the mayor.

“I never liked him, not even a little. I refuse to even let the tip of his fingernail touch me.”

Aesel held orgies to satisfy the mayor’s sexual desires, hoarding Farisle’s most beautiful women around him. Whenever he asked for sex specifically from her, a blindfold and another girl fixed that.

“With you as the mayor I wouldn’t have to worry about that. I can live the rest of my life in comfort knowing I have someone competent and worthy of admiration with me.”

She reached her hand out to touch mine.

“I promise you, my body and mind belongs to you and no one else. If you want you can touch me here – I don’t care who sees it. I want you.”

I grasped her hands. If she was a demon, then demons would’ve convinced me twice already. But I was more inclined to listen to my sane, greedy side. The one who desired wealth more than anything else. I could keep her as my wife but that didn’t necessarily come with trust.

“If I were to become a mayor, then I need answers.”

She smiled, grabbing both of my hands.

“But don’t get this wrong – I still don’t trust you.”

“I understand. We have all the time in the world, so ask me anything you want.”

What Horeln told me so far matched with Aesel’s.

Farisle’s purpose was to set a stage for an eventual conquest of Xitlachtan. But Goldenwheel hadn’t sent them funds for years. And yet, they still expected Farisle to keep delivering shipments of goods and maintain the foothold down south. The mayor had been scraping by through smuggling to fund the missions.

When the mayor heard the news of the mercenaries’ death, he passed out. He went balder as he impatiently scrambled for anything to compensate the loss. To make matters worse, Goldenwheel’s representative was expected to arrive in a few months for the annual inspection.

“We were expecting the mercenaries to ship lizardmen slaves to build a spice plantation, but no one came back.”

And I was the reason for that failure. I held back my laughter.

Still, I refused to enslave any those lizards regardless of how greedy I got. I could always negotiate, anyway. I was confident of that… most of the time, at least.

“So it’s my obligation to send Goldenwheel spices every year?”

“Among other things, yes.”

With access to blacksteel, I could expect a flow of spices from Xitlachtan. But Goldenwheel didn’t necessarily have to know the details. If I decided to work with them, I could just give them false numbers.

Consequently, the conversation steered towards blacksteel.

“The Goldenwheel will be overjoyed. You can demand a huge reward from them, and maybe negotiate for annual funds again.”

I snorted. “I ain’t giving them shit. I almost died for getting those.”

“Then are you planning to sell it elsewhere?”

“No. I have a deal with the lizards down south.”

“A deal with savages?”

I told her a bit about my adventures in Xitlachtan. But I omitted being formerly a cult sex slave, presently a prostitute to a lizard huntress and a sea goddess, and my travel partner Amea. Just enough so she wouldn’t ask more questions.

Aesel’s exhaled loudly.

“You’re not lying, aren’t you?”

“Nope,” I said.

“Why would you give savages such weapons? Are you mad?”

“I made a deal and I have no intention of breaking it,” I said, standing up.

“Where are you going now?”

“Take a bath.”

She stood up. “We can do it together. The bath at the mansion should still be intact.”

“I’d rather be on my own. For now.”

Solitude should help me process these new information. New responsibilities fell on my lap and I’d rather think of dealing with it first before enjoying a fun leisure time.

But my top priority was the blacksteel. It demanded another journey. To Vonditz, where I could hire the blacksmiths I needed.