City of Sin

Envoy

When Richard returned to the city, Senma noticed that he didn’t look alright. She assumed it was a resurgence in his mourning for the Dragon Mage, and feeling similarly herself she couldn’t think of a way to comfort him. Fortunately, he didn’t stop for long, taking her and most of the rune knights along as he left the plane.

The moment he was back on Norland, Richard contacted Noelene, barely waiting for her image to stabilise in the communication circle before speaking, “I need equipment. Our workshops won’t be selling a single thing from today, all production will be for my army.”

“What?” the grand priestess frowned, “That’s too sudden. We have a lot of orders we haven’t fulfilled yet, our reputation will tank. Did something happen?”

Anxiety was written all over Richard’s face, and after some hesitation he admitted it, “Yes, I feel like something bad is about to happen. I need to expand my forces as quickly as possible, it’s the reapers.”

“The what now?! How did you provoke them?”

“There was a doomsday imprint on Faelor. I believe I’ll be going to war soon.”

“I... Alright, I understand. I’ll go apologise to the bigger clients myself, and give them all the equipment we have now. Our workshops will focus on the designs you sent.”

“Okay, thank you,” he said with a sorry expression.

She smiled, “Our fates have been tied a long time ago, helping you is helping myself. But that being said... I don’t know if this is my place to say, but from past experience the best thing to do when faced with a reaper attack is to give up the entire plane. Why aren’t you doing that?”

“I still might. I just want one fight to be sure that it’s the right choice.”

“That’s a waste of soldiers.”

“I know... I’ll take it into consideration.”

“Noelene nodded, ”Be careful. One plane isn’t all that important, you can just buy others.”

“Got it,” he flashed her a quick smile, breaking off the connection before teleporting to his demiplane.

.......

At this point, Richard’s demiplane had grown to a circumference of several hundred metres. The energy-absorbing trees continued to drain the energy storm all around, turning it into elemental soil on the edges. The entire place looked like a barren rock, but picking up a random pebble he could see that the soil was extremely fine. Squeezing it a bit, he rubbed off the dirt itself to reveal a sparkling yellow crystal; this was pure earth elemental energy, useful in a number of potions, spell arrays, and equipment.

Tossing the crystal back down, he then headed to his mana pool. The place now had three layers, and the uppermost level that was a metre wide was already full. Liquid mana flowed down from it to the second level that four metres across and a full metre deep, this one a little more than half-filled as well. The third level had several smaller ponds that would eventually cater to individual elemental energy, forming crystals of specific elements, but that would have to wait until the second level was filled.

A thick layer of magic crystals already lined the bottom of the top pool, with quite a large number of those crystals being extremely pure. It hadn’t been terribly long, but Richard himself had to go quiet at the sight of more than a million gold’s worth of crystals. This was already enough for Noelene to pay the costs of breaching their contracts with customers. The energy absorbing trees were most certainly amongst the most precious treasures in all the planes; seeing their efficiency, he knew that a regular legendary mage would give up their entire life’s savings for a single one.

After surveying the little piece of land, Richard strengthened the teleportation array once more before returning to Norland. Arranging the good chunk of crystals that he had taken from the pool, he had a few knights send them off to Noelene. With that dealt with, he was about to go visit Coco when a mage rushed over, “Your Grace, an envoy from Duke Solam wishes to meet you.”

“Solam?” Richard grew a little confused, but he decided to meet the man in a formal hall.

“Your Grace, I was asked to meet you on behalf of Duke Solam regarding his daughter-in-law, Minnie.” The envoy turned out to be a young noble, the silver feathers on his collar making it clear that he was a viscount himself. This clearly wasn’t a throwaway messenger, and strangely enough he didn’t seem the slightest bit fearful either, “You should be aware that the woman brutally murdered her husband on their way back from the Brahms Marquessate, and there is evidence that she fled to you.”

At this point, the envoy passed and stared at Richard with glowing eyes. His hands already had a stack of documents, making it clear that he was ready to pounce with proof the moment he was denied.

“You...” Richard felt a headache coming on, “You realise that I told Solam directly. So what if I have Minnie under me?”

The envoy froze, all of his sharp words suddenly disappearing. He hadn’t expected Richard to be so direct, leaving him completely lost. The two dukes might have had conflicting views, but that was a battle between two lords where different rules applied. Steven’s murder was a direct affront to nobility, and Richard would be the target of widesread ire if this came out.

He took a deep breath, deciding to move forward, “Since you admit that Minnie is here, please hand her over. I can guarantee that her trial will be fair.”

“You can guarantee this?” Richard snickered, “And what makes you think you have that ability?”

The young noble’s face immediately went bright red, “I am Viscount Toruch Vyan, nephew of Duke Vyan who currently commands the southern forces of the Sacred Tree Empire. Is that enough?”

Richard burst into laughter, “I just defeated your northern forces, so now the south is coming my way? Strange, why did Solam send you instead of coming himself? He should know that any messengers sent to me are at risk of death.”

Toruch froze up, his expression suddenly turning gloomy as he realised that this mission was more than what it seemed. There had to be something else between Solam and Richard, beyond just a territorial dispute. He cursed the Duke in his mind, but he managed to retain all of his energy as he responded, “Your Grace, hiding Minnie away would be unbecoming for someone of your status. I’m afraid news of this would hurt your reputation. As for your challenge to the southern forces, rest assured that I will definitely report what you said, word for word.”

Richard finally retracted his smile, “We Archerons never had a good reputation in the first place, that’s how we keep annoying dogs from trying to take a bite out of us. Do whatever you want, but Steven’s murderer currently lives in Blackrose Castle. If Solam doesn’t like this, he can come try to get her out himself. Obviously, Minnie will be his if he wins the siege.

“And if he doesn’t have the ability to do that, then he’d better know his place.”

Toruch snickered himself, “Alright, Your Grace, I will certainly let him know. The Vyans will respond to your challenge at an app—”

*THWACK!* A resounding slap sent Toruch flying, his face starting to bleed before he even got to the ground. Richard was still seated in his chair, having moved so fast that nobody here had even seen him, but it was clear that he was the aggressor. Toruch’s guards rushed over to help him up, a few of them unsheathing their swords and glaring at Richard viciously, but he looked as calm as ever as a wave of his left arm unleashed his rune knights on all but the two helping the Viscount up.

“Why...” Toruch asked softly, half his face now swollen and his entire body shivering in pain.

“That is an actual challenge towards your family, brat,” Richard bent forward, staring the Viscount in the eye, “Tell them about this too. I don’t know why you wanted to make an enemy of me, but you better hope for some good rewards. Don’t show yourself again.”