Leaning back in her chair, Lord Heleema Cosgrave sighed heavily. “And why do you believe that the dwarves won’t be honoring the agreement?”

  The aide alongside Lord Renard said firmly, “Twenty dwarves under the command of King Mithralstrike’s right hand arrived less than an hour ago at the mountain gate. According to the dwarf, Crusher, they’re there to honor the agreement they had with Lord Walker.”

  Lord Renard, sounding both annoyed and outraged, added, “We won’t stand for it! A lot of us put a great deal of effort into getting everything in place in a short amount of time to honor the agreement the capital reached with the dwarven council, and we expect those bearded bastards to honor it in turn! They’ve been burning through essence crystals to bring in more of their kind, and wasting our resources left and right.”

  Lord Cosgrave looked out at the group of assembled nobles and their aides, thinking to herself that things were slowly spiraling out of her control. If the nobles here ignored the edict declaring House Warfare suspended, then the Tower of Law would certainly call in the Populators to act as adjudicators… which was absolutely the last thing she needed to be dealing with at the moment.

  Trying to keep the tone in the room calm, she did what she could with her presence in the ether. While everyone of some standing had similar abilities and would be aware of what she was doing, they would at least recognize what she was trying to accomplish.

  “I understand your concerns, but you need to understand that I cannot control what the dwarves will do. I’m sure you’ve all done your research and know what they’re like. I can assure you that they will live up to the agreement, and trade contracts with them will be distributed accordingly. I’m sure the agreement in question that they reached with Lord Walker, specifically the one that they are talking about was NOT the one which made him and his local ties their sole contact,” she said placatingly, making it clear that their interests would not be ignored.

  Another lord, Lord Mosgrave, stepped forward. “You say that, but how can you be sure? House Verena, with the support of House Walker, has already taken control of almost 60% of the city’s shipping capacity. Even with the exterior shipping lines being cut off due to the density shift, they are still growing. With their new trading houses and manufacturing concerns they acquired after your consort tried to kill Lord Walker, they are economically more powerful than their status deserves. As the lord of the city, you’re required to monitor the ladder and keep things in balance. House Verena doesn’t have the numbers to cover what they’re trying to do. We need actions… not words,” he said gravely.

  Lord Cosgrave knew House Verena, having recently acquired almost all of House Walker’s local assets, was now disproportionately economically powerful. Through chance and fate, a house that hadn’t existed during the last ladder evaluation was now a powerful force in the city's political field. Its rise was both unprecedented and awkward. The city and its political system needed time to fit them into the existing structure.

  Standing up from her chair, she removed any trace of kindness from her face, which already hadn’t been all that much.

  Glaring at everyone in the room, she said, “I said that I understood your concerns, and I do. If you wish me to act, then I will. Ordering an immediate revaluation of the ladder’s standings is within my power. Is that what you want? During a war? How many towns and villages under your control are currently vacant? How many of your holdings are currently showing losses? House Verena is making money hand over fist, and their people are happy. Do you think they don’t deserve the success that they’ve had? They are tied to a unique! Ignore for the moment the fact that House Walker wasn’t even on our ladder long enough to be evaluated, and think about how quickly Lord Walker rose to power!

  I for one will not forget the fact that both my heirs and one of my former consorts took it upon themselves to try and stop his rise and are now dead. Do any of you think you can do better? Violate the noble war suppression edict, and see what happens.

  I will ensure that the dwarves honor the agreement with the capital, as I’ve said I would. Beyond that, if you wish to fight House Verena economically, I can’t stop you. But, bear in mind, that you need to stay within the bounds of the law. House Verena is run by Lady Salvatore-Verena, and I very much would like to see how that goes for you.”

  Turning her attention to the new Lord Blackwood who was standing off to the side, and a little to the back of the group, she added, “I believe House Blackwood can attest to how unlikely your success in that arena might turn out to be.”

  —--

  Nero probably should have been more surprised than he was when the war caravan finished getting ready in short order. He’d known that he’d somehow acquired an abnormally competent group of people to run House Walker for him, but he still frequently underestimated them. Whether it was due to him not being used to people being good at their jobs, or just basing his estimated timetables on how long it would take for him to do anything… that wasn’t a particular thread he wanted to pull.

  He’d barely gotten through a chapter of his book when Knight Angleton, Natalie Keening, and three other people hopped up into the back of the wagon with him, Nick, and Archmage Jennings. Before they even had a chance to find their seats, Nero felt as much as heard Cathleen’s voice carry through the ether.

  “Move Out!” her disembodied voice shouted, echoing through his head like an earworm.

  Rubbing his temples, Nero closed the connection to the link he’d had opened. “What in the hell was that? Damned woman’s a menace,” he muttered under his breath in a rhetorical whisper.

  While everyone was busy chattering away, being all serious, Nick heard his muttering and replied, “Battle-field essence projection. It’s a useful skill for when battle hubs and essence connections haven’t been set up. It’s not all that different than how you can essence project your voice with intent. Typically, essence connections are a skill developed in the South, as the North tends to be very direct with their skill focus. Interestingly, battle-field essence projection has found a place among sub-commanders and sergeants who are tasked with -”

  Interrupting him, Archmage Jennings said, “I don’t believe he was asking for the history of the skills development. He’s just complaining about the resonance he felt due to the fact that he was connecting too deeply to the ambient essence flows.”

  Nick, ever helpful, said, “Oh, right. Nero, you need to remember that when you’re laying your presence over a wide area to keep your touch light. Holding on to that much essence isn’t practical at your level, or any level for that matter. Sensing should be limited to just spreading out your awareness, not your control.”

  One of the people Nero didn’t recognize joined in on the conversation. “Lord Walker, if I may? As a skilled sensor, I’ve found that only overlaying my presence when I need to is the correct approach when I’m not actively scanning for threats. You should only push your limits when you’re training, otherwise you won’t be able to keep up with your control skill levels.”

  Nick added, “That’s right, you don’t want your range to exceed your control. How are your skill levels in essence monitoring in relation to your range?”

  Nero, having very rarely if ever, bothered looking at his skill panel, replied awkwardly, “Um… they’re fine. I haven’t really touched too much on the skill stuff just yet. Don’t worry, it’s on the list of things I need to read about.”

  Archmage Jennings, sensing that the conversation was quickly turning into an impromptu lecture, stepped in. “We can discuss how to assess and manage your skills at a later date. Now that we have your attention, we need to talk about the dwarves.”

  Knight Angleton, suddenly pausing the conversation he was having with the two people next to him said, “What about the dwarves?”

  As the wagon was designed with two opposing rows of seating facing each other, Knight Angleton was able to lean himself over the middle imposingly. Nero, being seated next to the archmage with Nick across from him, felt surrounded.

  ‘All I wanted to do was have a few hours of rest before we showed up at the mountain to do some reading. These people need to learn to lighten up,’ he thought to himself.

  His voice was utterly serious when Archmage Jennings met Knight Angleton’s eyes and said, “The dwarves have sent a small contingent to join House Walker during their push into the upper mountain. It seems King Mithrilstrike has decided to honor his pledge to aid House Walker in its fight against the kobalds.”

  Seemingly unhappy with the development, Knight Angleton asked, “I thought the dwarves were going to be too busy to get involved? Don’t they have a city to build, and their own mountain to defend?”

  Archmage Jennings nodded and replied, “They do, but I believe King Mithrilstrike wants to make his intentions to honor the pact he made with House Walker despite circumstances not allowing him to.”

  Scowling, Knight Angleton asked, “Where did they get the available warriors? Wasn’t their contingent too small to spare anyone?”

  Nick added, “Until they get their dwarven essence tunnels set up, they won’t be bringing any of their citizenry over.”

  Offhandedly correcting him, Archmage Jennings said, “They call them rune tunnels, and they don’t have any set up yet. The troops they’ve brought over came from the capital. They’ve been portalling dwarves over every few hours since they arrived. The essence crystal cost is being afforded to them on credit as part of the agreement they reached with the kingdom.”

  “Does the city have that many essence crystals to spare with everything that’s going on?” asked one of the people Nero didn’t recognize.

  Glancing over at her, Nero thought the woman looked ‘hard’. She was definitely a fighter, and most likely one of the elites that used to be part of Kinght Angleton’s forces when they were still under the army.

  It was at times like this that Nero realized how ridiculous that people like her had chosen to ‘follow’ him. Knight Angleton and his people had agreed to give up everything to join House Walker, and he really didn’t understand why.

  Responding to her question, Archmage Jennings replied, “It doesn’t matter if they do or not. The city is required by law to honor the agreement. In time, they’ll be reimbursed.”

  The woman replied angrily, “Time the city may not have. Those essence crystals would be better spent in service of the war, not in bringing over dwarves for a city that may someday in the future provide economic value.”

  Archmage Jennings sighed and replied, “I’m not disagreeing with you. Furthermore, that leads rather smoothly into my point.” Turning to address Nero, he said, “Dwarves by their very nature tend to go wherever they want. Right now, that is with you. Whatever you did to make them like you, it worked.”

  Nero, surprised at the turn in conversation replied, “What do you mean ‘whatever I did’, you were watching the whole time. All I did was offer them a few beers and teach them a drinking game. If they’re inserting themselves into the war to help us, I don’t see how that is my fault… let alone a bad thing. I say let them.”

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  Knight Angleton said, “It’s not that simple, my lord. Dwarves are not a controllable factor. They’ll do what they want, where they want, how they want. Everyone knows this. The last thing we need is them interfering with our operations.”

  Archmage Jennings added, “That’s correct, Nero. As the reason they’re here, you’ll need to keep them from causing any problems.”

  Nero looked around the rumbling wagon as everyone swayed a little from the ride, surprised to see everyone staring at him in silence, seemingly waiting for him to say something encouraging.

  “Um, sure, I’ll talk to them. But what is it exactly that you’re worried about? It seems like you’re expecting them to blow up the mountain or something.” Nero said with some worry.

  Nick offered Nero the required explanation. “Not exactly, but dwarves are known to think differently than humans. They tend to ignore anyone’s opinion but their own. Historically, when humans and dwarves work together, there is a great deal of tension. Dwarves don’t listen to anyone’s orders but their own. They are, at best, an unstable factor on the battlefield, and at worst, a problem needing to be worked around.”

  Archmage Jennings added, “Dwarves are not humans, and normally don’t particularly like them. The fact that you managed to forge any sort of relationship in a single afternoon is surprise enough, but having them pledge to defend your house as an ally as if you were a friendly clan they want to support is so out of character for them that it has people worried.”

  Nero replied quickly, “You mean nobles. The nobles are worried.”

  Archmage Jennings replied, “Yes, Nero. The nobles. They just interfered with the trading agreement you reached with the dwarves, and now see the dwarves honoring what they think may have been part of that agreement. Various people, including the city lord, have tried to reassure them that the agreement the dwarves had reached with the capital is still in effect, but I doubt very much any of them are comforted by that fact. They know as well as anyone that the dwarves will interpret things however they want.”

  Nero frowned, for some reason rather insulted at the implication that dwarves may be less than honest in their dealing with humans. “They didn’t strike me as all that untrustworthy. I think the nobles may be projecting a bit there on that one.”

  “It’s not a matter of dwarves being untrustworthy. The agreement the dwarven council of kings reached with the kingdom is set in stone. However, King Mithrilstrike’s mind is his own. Every dwarven king is like that. He’d honor the agreement to the letter if everything had gone smoothly. However, with you having had to agree to some bureaucracy in order for that agreement to still be valid, he may choose to ignore it. I can’t stress to you how much that might anger the nobles. I shouldn’t have to explain to you why the idea of you and your allies being the only trading partner with the dwarves is untenable, do I?” he asked angrily.

  Nero, not intimidated, replied, “No, I get it. The dwarves were supposed to be a trading partner for the whole city, and that offhanded proposal I had to trade the mountain for exclusive trading rights screwed that up. I still don’t see how any of this is my fault. I agreed to the paperwork nonsense that backdated… updated… or reworked the land rights however the local council of leadership wanted. What else could they possibly want from me?”

  Archmage Jennings replied, “They want you not to develop such a close relationship with the dwarves! The dwarves are supposed to be partners with the city, not just House Walker. You’re not even a local house, can you really blame them? After you leave Dorchester, your local representative, House Verena, will become too powerful if they manage to become the sole trading partner of an entire city that is barely two days' travel away from here. The local nobility will have no choice but to declare a noble war and wipe House Verena out, if only so that they don’t completely lose control of the situation.”

  Nero nodded in understanding while rubbing his chin in thought. “Yeah, that would be bad. But what am I supposed to do to? I already agreed not to be the only go between the dwarves and the city.”

  Nick, who as the Lord of House Verena seemed suddenly very invested in the conversation replied, “You need to make it clear to the dwarves that you both value their friendship and respect their choice to help House Walker fight the kobald threat, but you cannot be their only trading partner. The agreement the council of kings had with the kingdom MUST stand. Otherwise, the local nobility will come together and crush us. They might not be able to act right now, as under the law the city is at war, but once the kobald threat is handled, they’ll have free reign to kill off your connection to the city… which is House Verena.”

  Nero, uncharacteristically serious, replied, “They’d really wipe out your house in retaliation for this?”

  Nodding, Nick replied, “They’d kill us all to stop us from rising that quickly, and they’d have every right to. An economic advantage like that is too much for them to put up with. We’d have to fight for control of the city, remaking it as our own in the process. House Verena isn’t nearly ready for that level of a fight. All together, we barely have 30,000 troops. We’d be massacred.”

  Raising his eyebrows in surprise, Nero stuttered, “You have 30,000 troops?!?”

  Nodding, Nick replied calmly, “Between the guards and forces working multiple duties, yes. Vera has been slowly building up our forces for years in preparation for when I took up my lordship. You’ve pushed her to act quicker than she’d like, but she’s handling it. But if you can’t get the dwarves to live up to their side of the agreement with the city, her preparations won’t be enough to save us.”

  Thinking about it, Nero figured many of the ‘troops’ Nick was talking about were probably the guards and people Vera had running the Precision shipping company. They were spread out over the entire city, and when put in relation to how large the city was, that actually didn’t sound like that many. The city was huge… like Rhode Island huge. Or at least he thought it was, he’d never had a comprehensive understanding how how large a space it actually took up. The one time he’d seen Nick present it as a model he couldn’t accurately conceptualize what he was looking at.

  Rubbing his temples, Nero asked, “And how many people or troops do I have now?”

  Knight Angleton replied, “All together? Probably around 800. 1500 if you include the mercenary and guard forces on joint assignment with House Verena. However, most of those are either out working as hunters or guards.”

  Nero, utterly and completely confused, said, “I don’t remember there being nearly that many people at the ceremony thing we just held. Were there?”

  Nick, along with the others chuckled awkwardly, before saying, “Nero, those who took the oath in front of you at the ceremony were various levels of adherents. Almost all of them will be with you for life. Very few of them will be staying here in Dorchester to manage your estate.”

  Knight Angleton added, “We who took the life oath will be fighting and serving you wherever you travel. Other than our service to House Walker, there is nothing more for us. We will not found our own houses, earn titles, or do anything other than serve House Walker. Local forces are what would be used in a noble war, as they are the ones who could affect local politics. While you could deploy us to act in support of your sub-house, House Verena, we could not raise House Walker’s position in the city, because it has none.”

  Nero, somewhat understanding what they were saying, tried another angle. “I get that, I do. You’ve all made that abundantly clear to me. What I’m asking is that if I have so many people under House Walker, then why are there only a couple hundred people going with us to the mountain? And how many people or troops is the army sending alongside us? Aren’t there only like three tunnels going into the upper city?”

  Many people in the wagon exchanged awkward looks, making Nero feel like he’d been missing something.

  Archmage Jennings said, “Nero, House Walker is only bringing around 300 troops because the others are all either not suited for this type of combat or busy doing other things for House Walker. You and your forces aren’t expected to clear out the entire upper city on your own. Yes, there are three main tunnels to the upper city, but there are countless other small tunnels that connect everything. Just in the upper city, the army will be deploying at least 100,000 troops at the minimum. You still don’t understand the size of the city you are in, do you?”

  Shocked, Nero remembered how large the battle with the kobalds on the surface was. There were troops all over the place, as far as he could see at the time. The numbers were too high for him to estimate, so he hadn’t bothered trying to think about it.

  Rubbing his hands over his face, he asked helplessly, “Then why does House Walker’s measly 300 troops matter at all, let alone the fact that we’ll have some dwarves with us? We’ll barely make up a fraction of a fraction of the forces the city is sending out. We had the whole meeting thing with the commander of the entire freaking army?!? Why did he need to personally get involved at all? We’re just small time.”

  Archmage Jennings replied, “Yes, your forces are small, but your position is not. As a unique, you’re on a quest for the city. Despite you not supposed to be having a large impact on the fighting, considering what you did to the kobald forces in the last battle, can you honestly expect the local forces not to consider you a person of note?”

  Waving away the backhanded compliment, Nero replied, “That thing with the essence explosion was just an accident. I sure as hell won’t be doing that again… I barely understand how I did it in the first place.”

  Archmage Jennings replied, “We’re getting off-topic. The point is, you have to get the dwarves to acknowledge that they’ll stick to the trading agreement the council of kings set up with the kingdom. If you don’t… I don’t know that I’ll be able to stop them from eventually destroying House Verena and cutting off your local ties. Without that support, your house will not be able to support itself and will have to return to Hennings and take up quests directly from the capital.”

  Waving his arms in annoyance, Nero said loudly, “But I’ve never even BEEN to Hennings. How am I supposed to ‘return’ there!”

  Nick, his tone serious, replied, “As a unique, that’s where your citizenship with the kingdom is based, and where your house is from.”

  Nero, now thoroughly pissed at how complicated this conversation has become, declared, “Fine! Whatever! Just stop talking. None of this political crap makes any sense to me. I just want to kill some bad guys and save the day. I’ll handle the dwarves. When we get wherever it is we're going, I’ll talk to them.”

  Leaning over to look toward the front of the wagon which was hidden behind a wooden barrier, he added, “By the way, how long is this trip going to take? And why aren’t we just teleporting there?”

  Nick, seeing as Nero was no longer interested in listening to anything serious at the moment, replied, “Around 5 hours. The cost to teleport everyone instead of just riding there would be wasteful to the point of idiocy. Luckily, your estate isn’t all that far from the gate attached to the mountain city’s entrance.”

  Nero, spreading out his senses, looked around the environment they were traveling through and gave Nick a blank stare. “We’re still inside the city… right?”

  Nick replied, “Yes.”

  Nero asked, “Then why is there a forest around us?”

  Nick, facepalming, replied, “Because the city is large, Nero.”

  Frowning, Nero asked, “If there is this much open space, then why is everyone talking about a population problem with all the villages evacuating here?”

  Archmage Jennings, looking angrier and more annoyed than usual, replied, “Where do you think the council is trying to put everyone? Demons and Devils from all the hells below, Nero, I know that you aren’t from here… but read a damn book about where you are!”

  With his piece said Jennings flashed in a bright golden light, filling the shaded wagon with enough glare that everyone was forced to cover their eyes.

  Seeing everyone recovering, only to begin staring at him, Nero offered them a shrug before saying, “Well, that was a bit much. I think the stress of his job is finally getting to him. I hope I don’t end up like that when I’m an all-powerful wizard with a tower. If you ask me, he’s being a bit of a drama queen… getting all worked up over people just asking a few questions.”

  Sighing, Nick said, “Nero, you need to learn to start taking some of these things more seriously.”

  Glaring at him, Nero replied, “No I don’t. You all need to learn to lighten up. I’ll handle the dwarf thing, and that will be that. The nobles will always be a problem, and assholes will always be assholes. If I let stuff like this ruin my mood, then I’ll spend all my time worrying about everything. I’m just going to continue focusing on the fact that I’m heading off to war against an army of evil lizards bent on world conquest, preparing my magic powers to fight them, and looking forward to seeing my new friends… the dwarves. 99% of the problems people end up all bent out of shape about are completely out of their hands. If the nobles end up declaring a noble war… I’ll just take you and Vera with me. Screw ‘em. If they want to handle the dwarves, they’re more than welcome.”

  Turning to look up into the air, Nero added, “And all of you douchebags that are watching can take a message to your employers. Do you think that I won’t burn the bridges behind me when I leave? Try me. The last thing you want is a city of drunken dwarves pissed off at you for ruining the only positive relationship they’ve developed since they arrived here. There aren’t any problems unless you make them. Learn your lessons and stop being such self-involved, ego-meniacal, douchebags!”

  Done ranting, Nero threw his feet back on the stump which had been slid out of the middle of the wagon, and crossed his arms in a huff. “I’m going to get back to my reading, feel free to talk about me while I ignore you,” he told everyone.

  Muttering to himself, he said, “Giant ass cities, run by committee… no surprise they end up talking themselves into wars with each other all the time. Assholes.”