Viceroy of Hell (18+)

The smith introduced himself as Alpold, one of the master smiths in the royal forge.

As Alpold said, the duke was a busy man. Just about anyone would want his attention so getting his audience would prove difficult. But Alpold knew the duke, so he wrote me a letter of introduction.

"The mention of blacksteel should be enough, but it is a matter of whether he would read our letter first."

Something should attract his attention first. A gift, maybe. I’d already considered different means of bribing – er, gifting people. A small jar of spice should be enough.

“This should do well,” he said, wrapping the jar.

Alpold made sure it was a jar of spice with an obvious note wrapped to it.

Meanwhile, Sae and I stayed in an inn. Like always she stayed in the same room for my "safety."

I got woken up by Sae creeping at the foot of the bed. When she noticed I was awake, she immediately hid under.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I uh, I was checking up on you."

I sat up and gave her a suspicious stare. "Checking up? Nothing else?"

She peered. "Yeah, you were... You know, flipping around."

I didn't have that dream for weeks. But then again I wouldn't necessarily remember all of my dreams.

I touched the bump behind my neck. I felt nothing.

But I might have been moving around in my sleep.

"Dreams don't kill. Just go back to sleep, Sae."

"Right," she said, going back to the other bed.

"Good night," I greeted.

"And that means?"

"It's a form of greeting. You know, to ensure someone sleeps well."

"Why?"

"It's just a formality. It's kind to do so, I guess."

She nodded. "Best night to you, then. Hopefully you won't flip around too much this time."

The next day around noon, Alpold visited us in the inn. We all us sat in the lobby. As usual, Sae ate a lot with the sugar she brought. Even Alpold was curious about the weird brownish liquid she splattered on her food.

"His excellency has made an exception for you. He wants to see you today."

Oh, that worked out pretty well.

"That's amazing, then."

"Yeah but uh," Alpold leaned forward and started looking a bit remorseful, "I might have buttered him up too much..."

To further convince him, Alpold told the duke Sae and I could help out with the troll problems.

It wasn't a problem for me, though. I just didn’t expect to fight.

"I-I'm really sorry! Well seeing how you're rich and all I thought you could hire a company to deal with it..."

"Can't any of you aristocrats afford to handle it?"

"I’m not one, but the house lords could. However..."

No mercenaries were available. At least no competent ones. Even the monster hunting guild’s top hunters were away. Apparently, trolls were beasts not anyone could simply hunt down.

After all the fights I’d been through I’d grown confident of my skills. If fighting trolls meant earning the favor of a duke, then I had no reason to decline.

"You have no qualms about it right, Sae?"

"None at all," she said, downing half of what’s left in her ale tankard.

"There you have it. We'll meet up with the duke."

Alpold was overjoyed, shaking both of my hands viciously.

"Thanks! And again, I apologize!"

The duke himself sent us a fancy carriage. It took us around twenty minutes before we arrived at our destination.

The duke's estate was built just outside the castle walls. The lawn was as spacious as the White House, with a fancy well-crafted gate keeping it. Inside was a tall, round marble fountain decorated with statues, sprinkling water in three directions.

The mansion reminded me a lot of ancient roman buildings but with a medieval touch. There were barely any trees. The bushes were trimmed in perfect cubes, and circular patches of colorful flowers dotted the estate’s spacious lawn.

Armed guards, probably knights, patrolled the pathways. Some stood guard along entrances.

"We have invitation from his excellency," Alpold told the two guards by the mansion’s door.

The guards opened the door for us.

Inside was as fancy as I expected. Huge golden chandelier hang on the ceiling, statues of warriors stood adjacent to the walls, well-crafted pillars connected the floor and the ceiling, and gold-white textiles tiled the floor.

I wouldn’t want something as fancy like this, though. I’d rather have a defensive mansion with less focus on fanciness. A small castle, maybe.

"So landers shiny things, too, huh?" Sae said.

"I guess it's a trait that transcends race."

An elven maid led us upstairs, towards a door at the end of the hallway. She opened the door, revealing a rather plain-looking office. No fancy decors. Just a bunch of bookshelves filled to the brim with books, a normal wooden desk and chair, and a window where the afternoon light poured in.

A man in a simple, comfortable outfit stood by the shelf, reading a book. He was probably around in his early-forties. His long, auburn hair was curled around the sides. Surprisingly, he was clean-shaven.

The pendant on his necklace caught my attention – four leaves shaped like a pinwheel.

"Ah, you must be mister Caesar and..."

"Phorysae."

"An ancient Galedean name!"

The duke shook both of our hands. I didn’t expect he would be welcoming.

"Now I'm sure my friend Alpold there already mentioned that I have other more immediate matters to attend to, but you caught my attention..."

"The blacksteel, huh?"

"Oh, no, no..."

He was unexpected indeed. The duke showed me the spice jar I sent him as a gift.

"You must be quite in a high, how do I say it, economical position to possess this."

I smiled. "It's a trade secret, unfortunately."

He shoved the jar into his pocket. "Of course! Now, it would be nice to know who mister Caesar truly is. I doubt you are just a wandering mercenary."

I bowed lightly. "I am Caesar, mayor of Farisle, your excellency."

"Caesar of Farisle... I’m afraid I have not heard of such a place."

"It’s a distant island town, but I assure you the place exists."

He hummed. "Matters not. Now, to properly introduce myself. I am Feldeus IX, head of House Homerheit, duchy to the prince of Vonditz, faithful worshipper of Monrea, a Marshal-Knight of the Vonditz Chapter of the Order of Blessed Healers of Monrea…”

Overseer of the forges, was a champion of fencing and blindfolded jousting, father to a holy knight… the list went on. The aristocrats sure put a lot of emphasis on their titles. Even Sae winced every time he spouted a new title.

I just shook his hand with a forced smile.

“Now, onto business, then? Alpold told me you wish to hire some of the royal smiths."

I told him what I needed smiths for and nothing else.

"I see. Well, I could help with that but you see, there’s a problem that needs immediate solution first..."

Like Alpold told me, the sudden troll attacks hindered the trade in the region. Initially it was just the trade caravans being attacked. Feldeus couldn’t care less about any Goldenwheel caravans.

But then the trolls occupied several jodglass mines. It cut off their supplies. And with the constant demand of jodglass weapons from the prince, Feldeus was considering hiring mercenaries outside the region. That meant blowing through his treasury.

I went right onto business.

"I'll give you the mines back and take care of the trolls. But I want a contract that allows me to hire the smiths whenever I want."

He hummed. "When they’re available, yes. But there will be months where the prince demands all of them."

"I'm not done. I want their knowledge of forging to be shared with me to aid my research."

He chuckled. "That won’t do."

"I’ll pay extra for it."

He shook his head slowly. "Forging of jodglass is a state secret, mister Caesar. That would be treason, no?"

"Then I want a guarantee that I can get at least ten smiths everytime I file a contract regardless of the prince’s demands. And each contract lasts a year."

He crossed his arms, then chuckled. "You’re quite the negotiator, Caesar. Were you a merchant?"

"You can say that."

“Well, I obviously cannot prioritize you over the prince, but we can make a compromise…”

He could only guarantee five smiths for six months per contract. It was half of what I wanted, but it was more than enough.

“I’m fine with it.”

"Very well. I agree to your terms and we will write it on paper. Now about dealing with the trolls. I assume you’re acquainted with skilled mercenaries?"

"Oh no. We don’t need them."

He stared at me in confusion.

"We'll personally handle them."

"...you will?"

"Trust me, we've fought tougher battles. Right, Sae?"

"Yup. I’ve never lost one."

Feldeus nodded. "That is assuring but... Are you certain? This is trolls we are talking about."

"Don't worry about it. Just prepare the contract."

"Very well..."

The duke wasn’t convinced yet, but he wouldn’t be losing anything if we failed. Not like we would fail, anyway.

The contract was written, but the duke would only sign it once our mission succeeded.

They gave us every information we needed to take care of the trolls. They even handed us a detailed map to the south, chartering towns, villages, and certain areas of the forests. The Xitlachtan area remained largely uncharted, though.

We spent the night in the mansion. Although we shared dinner with the duke, we didn't meet his family because they were away for business and academic purposes.

The food was heavily spiced with basic condiments like pepper, salt, and some herbs. This was probably why the duke was so excited with the spice I gifted him.

I also learned that Goldenwheel had replaced more than half of the traders guilds throughout Creonrein. Most of the industries were taken over by them except for jodglass, which belonged to the prince.

Illuminant churches, or what they called illuminaries, began popping up everywhere. They swept aggressively, converting people here and there. Feldeus was alarmed by it because Creonrein mainly worshiped the Circle of Creation. But with the frequent attacks of cultist witches, people required immediate solutions, and the Illuminants granted it free of charge.

The duke, however, held firmly into his beliefs.

The next day was our planned date of departure. The duke gave us things we needed for travel – food, some money, horses, and equipment. Since Sae couldn't ride a horse they lent us a carriage instead. I knew jack shit about driving horse-drawn carriages so they added an old human coachman.

The coachman recommended a route with several detours because of monsters. I insisted we cut straight to the south, reducing the travel time from ten days to three. I had to convince him that no harm would come his way, but he was still anxious.