Alchimia Rex

“It would be the most reasonable approach.”

The sky was a sea of angry white and gray cotton. Only here and there would a beam of light dare peek through and make it down to the city. Rick’s lips curled at the thought, he’d seen towns larger than Sinco. His finger caressed the perfectly smooth surface, feeling the telltale tingling of elemental power under his skin. The window was enchanted like everything else in this place. He wasn’t entirely sure what every little thing did, but he was fairly sure the glass had been made to distort the light so that it hid how thick the walls were.

If Eva’s estimation of costs were anything to go by, the window alone could be traded in for enough gold to buy every meal Sinco needed in a day.

But he could try to sell every window and every enchanted item in this dump and the food problem wouldn’t be solved for even an hour. Because concepts like “trade” worked differently in this world

A city could only afford what was immediately within the city’s reach. When the roads were put to use again, anything coming from any neighboring city would be through an extreme “road risk” premium.

In the back of his head, he could only begrudgingly acknowledge the late Baron of Astunes. A tiny village far more cut off than Sinco, and they’d set-up a functioning hospital and radio tower. Rick’s lips curled from the bile left in his tongue at the thought. The noble had tried to take Monica from him, and died for his efforts, but he’d still spent what could have only been a fortune to push the place into something resembling a more modern outlook than many other places in the kingdom.

“You stand beyond your station. You do not have what it takes to survive a single misstep.”

Thorley’s words rung inside Rick’s head like some sort of accursed chant. Even the monsters here knew how to handle the politics and economics of this world better than he ever would.

They’d been literally trained for it since they could walk.

But there was something else that gnawed at him, something he’d been trying to ignore but couldn’t. Urtha’s bond pinched at him, the Orc was somewhere outside, and he could sense she was thinking of him. Intentionally or otherwise, she was shoving herself through the bond and at him with an undercurrent of regret, frustration, and pent up desire.

It was like a drop of water that would splash against the back of his neck every other second. He was sure she wanted to forget what had happened yesterday as much as he did.

Even without the subject matter about “marriage”, which wasn’t exactly the most comfortable topic to talk about, the truth of the matter was that she’d rattled him.

“And none of us, not one soul amongst my sisters, would be cowardly enough to kill a human.”

Her words had sent him back to that moment. The stool, heavy in his hand, dripping with blood.

The lifeless eyes of Thorley, the man staring up at him in one final moment of horror.

Rick had been willing to execute humans in the tribe who’d posed a threat to him. The lord had been a threat, and his death had served to cement his authority over the city.

But her words cut deep all the same.

“My dear husband, what do you think?”

Kiara’s voice came with a prickling sensation that rushed up his spine in a teasing passionate caress. Her powers withdrew as soon as he jolted away from the glass, the man turning to look at the two occupants in the room.

The Succubus hid her scorn with a simple gesture of her head towards their “important guest”.

It took Rick’s mind a moment to catch up with the current situation, another for him to bring himself to care.

Ariana Donohuei was a human woman approaching her thirties that had put up a lot of effort to look like David Bowie in the early 2000’s. Short straw-like blond hair, a rather flat jaw, and makeup that highlighted age rather than seek to erase it. Her clothes matched the fashion trend other female nobles had used, a frilly blue shirt and vest, and tight black leather pants that stressed her broad thighs and-

Rick frowned, cutting off the slow sweet ooze of lust that Kiara was shoving his way in some clear attempt to keep him grounded. The Succubus looked at the human woman like she was little more than a treat just waiting to be undressed and gobbled up.

And as far as Rick was concerned, the woman was an annoyance he had to put up with. She alone led the loggers of the city, though if rumor was to be believed, it would be more accurate to claim she was the one responsible for the entire operation to begin with. Any medium-sized company Rick had ever known of could dwarf the totality of her “power”. But in this world of tiny cities with a population of “low thousands” being impressive numbers, she might as well have been a miniature Rockefeller.

The sole question of the current meeting being to determine whether she’d be a useful annoyance, or one they’d have to sideline and toss out.

“Doubling their production with only a handful of Orcs for aid would be quite appropriate,” Kiara said with a demure smile to catch him back up to the conversation, taking a sip from her glass of wine.

Rick didn’t laugh the question out of hand, they couldn’t spare warriors. To say nothing that the tribe was in a rather delicate situation right now. “How cold is winter in Sinco, miss Donohuei?”

The woman stirred in her seat, a friendly smile cracking ever so slightly. “It can get quite frigid, my Lord. There’s a Frostcaller nest in the eastern mountains, and their blizzards have made winter intense for over a generation.”

He nodded along, it was still somewhat appalling to consider maidens could just up and alter the weather on a whim in such potentially catastrophic ways. Was the kingdom ignoring their nest because it was cheaper to leave alone, or because it would just be a fruitless endeavor? It was convenient they had their own weather-altering maidens on hand, but there were only a dozen Neigix in Sinco, meaning a blizzard would not be something they could shake off no matter how hard they tried.

And that firewood would be literally life-saving once the temperatures dropped.

“When was the last time you’ve had an expedition into the woods?”

“A little before… the events involving the previous Lord.” She smiled thinly, taking a sip from her glass, the teasing edge to her lips becoming warmer.

Rick suspected Kiara was doing something, but wasn’t about to comment. “Why not just grow the timber near the city?”

She curled a brow at this question. “Plants that have been pushed to grow are equally rapid to unmake themselves. Something produced in a week will probably rot away within the following month. Chopping it down will only make it happen faster.”

Was that why Rick hadn’t seen a single grain silo? Was the process of growing the food through a maiden’s powers that made it somehow much harder to preserve? Was it the elemental energy or something else?

Just thinking about food supply was giving him a headache. He didn’t want to consider how Dia’s monster-plant discovery might influence such things; the healer had yet to leave the Lord’s library in her mad search for clues.

He scratched his stubble in thought. “What of the super-trees?”

“I… am not sure what you mean, my Lord.”

“I happened to be in the deeper forest at one time, south of Astunes,” he said, shifting closer to the seats only to avoid distracting himself with the window. “I saw trees thicker and taller than any building in Sinco.” Bigger than every skyscraper he’d seen too. “They couldn’t exist without elemental energy involved somehow. Do you know about them?”

The glass was emptied in a single swing. “The fact that you’ve seen the Elven grove and live is impressive, my Lord.”

Kiara perked up slightly. “Could you elaborate?”

“It’s an old tale of the first Elf Queen, the Green Empress.” She shook her head. “The ancient trees of the deeper forest are older than the existence of maidens, it’s a place where very dangerous ferals live. We avoid those parts.”

Seeing how it was the general area where he’d met Monica, Rick could only nod absently at the wisdom of her claim.

“What other myths are there regarding Queen Isadora?” There was a glint in her eye as she asked, leaning forward on her seat.

“I hadn’t known that was her name.” Ariana smiled. “We have some tales, but really the place is called the Elven grove because any Elf whose bond’s broken will feel a tug towards the deeper parts of the forest.”

The Succubus bit her lip for a second, but pushed the conversation onward. “Any ever come back?”

This time the woman laughed. “Who’d be insane enough to seek a sleeping Elf?” She shook her head lightly. “Even if they were brought back, none can awaken them. Between that and the worst ferals of the kingdom living there, it is a waste of effort and lives.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Any Elf that’s gone there is feral food by now.”

Rick cocked his head, as far as he knew, Elves were unique in their feral state. Where someone like Monica going feral would turn her into an intelligent and highly dangerous animal, Elves however, fall into a deep slumber. At least that’s what Dia had told him. “But why are they drawn to the woods?”

“Tree-huggers always get pulled to the deepest part of whatever forest is nearby.” Kiara answered quickly, keeping her smile at ease. “If you know any lullabies or child rhymes about the Elf Queen Isadora, I’d be very interested to learn them.”

“Maybe we could talk about it over some tea tomorrow? It’s been so long since I’ve heard any of them, I would need to refresh my memory.” The woman replied, cutting off the conversation topic.

Rick sat down, trying to figure out how much of this farce was actually necessary and how much of it just to placate one of the power-brokers of the city. The farms didn’t have much need for wood, and currently they had all the metal they might want, for both the militia and the farmland. Having protections made out of wood was useless in the face of ferals compared to using stone, and yet… there was another thought that lingered. “Have any of your maidens stumbled onto the source of the smell that blows this way from time to time? The sulfur.”

Ariana nodded. “Are you seeking to reach the green pools?”

“Yes,” he said, grinning a little as he took his cup and sipped. “We do need a guide for the forest, in general.”

Not just for the pools, but also because there might be someone out there looking to attack the city. But overall Rick had little reason to chase after them, the prospect alone would likely be impossible considering the sheer size of the forest, and how little maiden-power they could spare for such a task. As things stood, the better option was to get a hold of a stable supply of sulfur.

As soon as Rollo had some workable prototype for air compression, he’d be able to set-up shop and start work on creating an industrialized ammonia production. With that in his pocket, he could readily give a gigantic middle-finger to anyone that came knocking.

“I think it would be possible to coordinate something.” He gave her a thin smile, keeping his tone polite.

Next to him, Kiara stiffened, eyes widening for a fraction of a second as the disguised maiden reached out to grip his knee and squeeze. “Perhaps best to speak further tomorrow? I’ve just remembered there was some important business we need to attend to.”

The shift in mood caught the others off guard, but Ariana reacts smoothly, moving the conversation towards the pleasantries mixed in with goodbyes and vague meaningless words. Rick’s focus was more on the tight grip the Succubus had on his leg, hard enough it made him grimace inwardly. The bond frothed with something that felt like borderline panic even as the disguised maiden kept speaking with an impossibly pleasant and calm voice.

The fake pleasantries were quick, and Kiara practically shut the door with a loud slam the instant the human had stepped out of the room, not bothering to take her towards the entrance.

With a flick of her hand the blue-haired maiden locked the door and spun to face him. “Someone’s broken through the protections.” Her tone was dead serious, face contorted into a glare that was aimed at something only she could see.

Eva emerged from Rick’s shadow. “That’s impossible, an alarm should go off if that were the case.”

“Maybe it’s breaking down?”

“I checked the matrix myself, it’s up to Darkton standards, it should have at least another year before that happened.” The Fledgling shook her head. “What did you detect?”

“Hey.” Rick spoke up, trying to make sense of the situation. “Could you-?”

“Advanced scrying of some sort. Their focus on us was gone in a split second, probably trying to confirm they could look into the mansion.” The Succubus muttered, tracing her finger against the door in what was clearly a pattern, though for what, he wasn’t sure.

“Hey!”

Eva was looking over the window, hands trailing the frame. “Maybe you imagined it?”

Kiara glared. “If I were that sloppy, I’d be dead. Someone made it through the protections. Do the enchantments have a key of some sort?”

“Maybe? It’s not like-”

“COULD SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT’S GOING ON!?” He shouted, eyeing them sternly.

“We need to find the problem before we can explain it to you.” The Succubus frowned.

It was like a hot coal had just been dropped into his stomach, jaw clenching as he glared, fists tightening at his sides. “Try me.”

Kiara hesitated, having taken half a step back, gaze darting from his face to his hands, and then back.

“We’re under attack,” the Fledgling said, strained.

The Succubus rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t go THAT far, more like a potential-”

There was a screeching sound, a black veil falling down the window and ending with a heavy THUNK that plunged the room into darkness. Everyone froze, hearing the same sound repeated a dozen times over, all around them, the noise made from every shutter in the household slamming down.

Rick guessed the soft click that followed was the sound of the protections locking into place.

“Something’s tripped the alarms.” Eva’s red eyes glowed in the dark, her pale features coming into view when Kiara summoned a light. “We’re under attack.”

“From what!?”

As if to answer his words, there was a shriek that pierced through the closed door.

“I guess from whatever just killed our guest.” Kiara clicked her tongue in annoyance.