Chapter 37

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth.

City of Rebirth.

"Milady."

"Please, dispense with the formalities." Simply said Allya as she gestured towards the seat in front of her desk, and her visitor sat down. "I've had more than enough bowing and scraping for an entire lifetime in the last day alone. The last thing I need is even more."

Her visitor smiled, and Allya looked at her in contemplation. She was tall for a dark elf, although she didn't reach Pyn's height. About 1 meter 70, with the usual dark purple complexion of her kind, shoulder length black hair, and purple eyes. Of course, the slight thing that would set her apart from most dark elves was the greatest common point she had with Elkaryos: the golden balance medallion hung around her neck, signifying membership in the merchants guild.

"...So." Finally said the baroness. "You're my new economic advisor, and liaison with Elkaryos?"

The dark elf smiled.

"Ah, not exactly. I mean, I am only your economic advisor if you choose to make me so. But yes, I am the designated liaison with Rapier Enterprise. You may call me Melia Alira Estuaire Nuage. I am, or, well, used to be, a senior manager in Rapier Enterprise's procurement division, and I am also a member of the merchants guild, although I do not hold a rank there."

Allya blinked, then smiled wryly. Given her family name, it sounded like she was a fellow Erisian -which was hardly surprising, given how thoroughly the Empire dominated the world's commerce, and how vast it's population was-, which was nice. It was always good to have compatriots around, if only because they tended to be less confused by some of her more...ingrained habits and expressions.

"If that's alright with you, I think I'll stick to calling you Melia. It's...more manageable."

Melia laughed.

"Don't worry, I get that a lot."

"Excellent. That you took no offense, I mean." Allya shook her head. "So, you're in charge of Rapier Enterprise's assets in the principality?"

"Yes! I'll head the Rebirth division, as I'm sure it'll be called eventually. Although formally forming it will require master Elkaryos' approval of course."

"Of course."

"In any case, my primary mission right now is to assist you as best as I can, and try to assess the value of the dungeon's loot for Rapier Enterprise directly, then any of our partners, particularly in the Omega Conglomerate and the Syndicate Cartel. So my division will be mainly logistical to start with, although there are healthy possibilities for manufacturing as well."

Allya nodded. That made sense, Rapier Enterprise was deeply involved in international commerce, particularly regarding weapons, so most dungeons would have loot that would turn out to be useful for them. And given the Omega Conglomerate's reputation for automating everything with golems, she had little doubt that even if Rapier had no use for the dungeon's loot, their partners would be more than happy to buy Crystal's golem parts off of them.

"That's about what I expected. Might I enquire if Elkaryos intends for his share of the dungeon taxes to be redeemed in currency or goods when possible?"

Melia smiled, and leaned forward, putting her elbows on the desk, and Allya had the sudden feeling of being a bowl of milk in front of a hungry cat. She started regretting not...engineering some pretext to keep Pyn by her side for this meeting. Because right now, she could really use the elf's help, as she was honest enough to admit that her girlfriend was far better at negotiating than she was.

"Master Elkaryos has indeed issued instructions on the subject. He would rather have it paid in goods if at all possible. He was also wondering if you would be interested in selling him your dungeon loot, at a good rate of course, in exclusivity?"

Allya smiled back.

"I will not give you an answer until said dungeon goods have been properly evaluated...and I have seen the direct, signed reports. But I can already say that until you have given me hard numbers, and I had the time to consult my councilors and advisers, I will most certainly not agree to an exclusivity out of hand."

Melia winced slightly at the baroness' biting tone, although she hid it well, and Allya had to restrain her smile from growing. There was no need to antagonize the dark elf, besides, she might turn out to be a fantastic advisor...and quite frankly she was badly in need of economic advice, and a buffer with the merchants.

"Still, while that remains on hold, I would like to reassure you that I will consider the offer. Also, I would indeed like to assign you as my economic advisor, if you accept the post of course."

"Of course I accept!" Immediately said the dark elf, and Allya almost blinked. She was....enthusiastic. She wondered the age of the dark elf, but simply shrugged it off. Past puberty, it was pretty much impossible to tell which age an elf had exactly, even for those with visible sign of ageing like Rogard.

"Excellent! Well, in that case I'll have my clerks assign you an office here, just in case." Allya sighed. "It's...Myskaros' old office. My apologies if you knew him."

Melia's eyes darkened.

"I did...Not necessarily well, but I worked with him regularly. He was a nice fellow." Her gaze sharpened. "The bastards who did this....I don't know what they thought they were doing, but the Syndicate protects it's own."

Allya slowly nodded. She'd decided to send a sealed dispatch -with a guarantee of delivery by the messenger guild, meaning that the package would either get to it's recipient or destroyed before it could be taken- to Elkaryos, containing what she'd learned from Neptunite, with a series of recommendation and an analysis of situation. She had hesitated to spread the knowledge around to her advisers, but had decided against it in the end. It wasn't that she didn't trust them, just that she didn't want an accidental leak....and that right now they needed to focus on the tasks at end rather than worry about the looming threat.

Of course, only an idiot wouldn't realize that the Republic was at least going to try to make a move to take control of the area, but there was a difference between diplomatic pressure, or even a military build up, and outright sending a team of saboteurs and assassins as your first response. That rather meant that the Republic really wanted this dungeon...to the point of war if they had to.

"Well, that is for the future." Said Allya, a tad to brusquely, and her heart nearly froze as a glint of suspicion entered Melia's eyes. She was suddenly reminded that no matter how integrated into today's civilian society they might be, dark elves had been bio-engineering killing machines once, much like orks. Except that instead of fearlessness, toughness and raw strength, they had been created with swiftness, dexterity, and a resilience to damn near every environment on the planet. Natural born assassins in short. "We have more immediate problems to worry about at any rate. Like, say, the swarms of pirhan-I mean respectable merchants currently feeding on whatever loot has gotten out of the dungeon yet."

Melia winced openly, and Allya almost sighed in relief. You could always count on being able to change the subject with a merchant if you started talking about the competition, or their practices.

"Indeed. There isn't much that we can do besides getting a head start...and preventing these idiots from encouraging some dumb kids to get themselves killed."

Allya's eyebrows rose at the merchant's bitter tone, and the dark elf laughed.

"I used to work with Myskaros, remember? There were always some young idiots that wanted to foray into the wastelands in search of riches, usually egged on by some merchants that would love to get their hands on their share of any discoveries...if they came back alive. Granted, here at least they'll get brought back if they died...but you probably know as well as I do how traumatic being resurrected can be to people."

Allya nodded. Although she hadn't been resurrected herself, she did have to take care of some of her platoon that had been back in the Eris Empire. It was tough enough for grown, veteran soldiers, but it saying it was shaking for younger, less well prepared recruits was one hell of an understatement.

"We can't stop people from making their own choices, as long as they remain within the bounds of the law. And the Kingdom's constitution is very clear on that point." Allya shrugged, citing from memory. " 'Any adult that wishes to do so may delve into the depth of a dungeon unimpeded, as long as they have paid the appropriate dues and warned of the dangers within.' "

It was a testament to how central dungeons were to most nations that entire sections of the constitution of most realms were dedicated to their treatment and the protocols surrounding them. Of course, that was also due to the UDC and how they acted as a magnet for territorial disputes, both intra and inter national, but still.

Melia didn't even respond, and Allya had the distinct impression that the dark elf would have liked nothing more to spit on the ground. For herself, the baroness was of the opinion that if someone had been told exactly what was waiting for them, and they still wanted to go, it was their choice. Now, people forced to delve would be a whole other matter, but that could wait for...later. She'd already spotted a slaver ship in the convoy that had landed, and she had the firm intention of making it clear how....unwelcome they were going to feel here. Well, as much as she could anyway.

Because while slavery was perfectly legal in the Asarian Kingdom, it had been outlawed from the outset in the Eris Empire. And although she was perfectly well aware that that particular interdiction was being regularly flouted in the outer provinces, it still held within the Core. She'd been raised in the belief that slavery was nothing more than a barbarian custom from backwater hellholes that refused progress, and after travelling the world she heartily agreed with her tutors on that point at least. And she had also read on slave rebellions and their aftermaths, and she wanted to avoid that in her city at all costs. So while she couldn't simply kick out the slavers outright, she was fairly sure she could...discourage their trade to some degree.

"Alright. Well, I'll let you acquire that headstart you were talking about...while I get back to managing this city." She gestured at the piles of paperwork on her desk. "As you can see, it's going to take me a while."

Recognizing her dismissal, Melia nodded, and sat up.

"Of course milady, have a good day!"

"Have a good day as well, merchant Melia." Formally answered Allya, before watching the dark elf leave her office, and sighed as the door flap closed and the sound proofing enchantment came back on. This had gone...better than she'd expected really. It was clear that however...bamboozled Elkaryos had felt after he realized what, exactly, he'd signed up for, he was committed to making this work, since Melia seemed competent enough, and despite her obvious impetuosity she seemed fairly level headed. Fairly.

Plus, she really needed someone to deal with the other merchants for her.

*****

"Well that is...unexpected."

"Not for me, I hoped this would happen."

Alexandra looked to the side, and her eyebrows rose at her advisor's smugness.

"What do you mean?"

Emilia gestured at the screen in the workshop, where a crowd of adventurers was being held back by a literal cordons of soldiers and higher ranked adventurers backed by guild attendants. Fortunately they seemed to respect the rank of their comrades, if nothing else, as they were keeping a safe distance away, but still.

"There were probably merchants with the convoy that arrived. And those merchants probably rushed to buy all the loot they could, for evaluation and resale. Now that would be enough to entice anyone, but those that did the delves yesterday would have been the only able to supply that loot...and it probably devolved into a bidding war. They're probably fairly rich now. And that means that it's no longer the promise, or possibility of wealth, for those adventurers. That wealth has very clearly materialized in front of them, and the fact that it's going to be for a limited time is going to drive them into a frenzy." She smiled. "It's an excellent thing that you completed the elevator when you did! Now we'll be able to get much more adventurers through while they're overexcited and imprudent!"

Alexandra slowly nodded. She wasn't as enthusiastic as her advisor -no matter what, she couldn't shake off the feeling that she was reducing sapient beings to cattle with such a mentality-, but she wasn't immune to the advantages either. She could never have too much mana after all, and she needed the essence badly as well, if only to make even more mana. And she had a sneaking suspicion her level would have more importance than that, her boss' level like CQ, or the number of consecrated bosses she could deploy.

Plus, Emilia had a point. The elevator would prove critical if they wanted to take advantage of this. She'd finished testing and building it, and while it wasn't her most refined design -it was just a platform of wrought iron moving along rails of the same material with a bomb in the middle after all- it was workable. Actually, calling it an elevator might be a bit of misnomer, as it could travel up, down, and to the sides as well. It kind of reminded her of the transport capsules in capital ships back on Earth, where battleships and dreadnoughts were so stupendously large you had to literally incorporate trains and other vehicles in the design to be able to get people and materials where they needed to be. The transport capsules themselves were mostly confined to long tubes in which they were propelled by a central control system and a vast array of gravity generators, but they were the same concept at their core, although usually you didn't have to worry about people trying to break into them, as if a capital ship was being boarded, you'd probably already lost the battle anyway.

In any case, the 'elevator' was perfectly functional, if a bit slow, and sometimes erratic -she'd installed a safety rail because of that-, and went from a secluded, highly armored portion of the entrance, straight to the entrance to the second floor. It even had a tube leading to the forge, since it had been originally made there to lower the costs, although the entrance was concealed...and packed with enough bouncing betty warheads to collapse the tunnel if push came to shove.

I really need to get something better than those warheads, actually, she thought to herself. They're not really made for demolition, or explosives for that matter, and I'm relying too much on them. Besides, they're expensive as hell for the results I get.

TO-DO LIST UPDATED

Thank you, magitech.

She shook her head, and looked at the screen again.

"Let's hope we can handle them." Alexandra winced. "I know we put some of the mob generators in the first floor, but it's not nearly enough."

"That's...a good point." Said the vampire girl as she stroked her chin, before snapping her fingers. "Oh, I know! Why not use the elevator, and create them in the forge, outside of the adventurers' interference? Then, you can bring them into the dungeon without any issue, as long as you time it right."

Alexandra looked at Emilia. Her mind had simply stopped. She...A logistic system. Just like she'd thought about with the transit system in a ship. Gods, she'd been so focused on getting the damned adventurer out of her dungeon faster, to get the next batch in, that she'd completely forgotten the implications! She didn't need mob generators throughout the dungeon, just like the Dawnstar hadn't needed a fabricator in every section! She could just have a centralized production center, and build a logistic network and ship her golems throughout the dungeon!

"Emilia?" The vampire girl blinked, and looked up at Alexandra as her odd tone registered. "YOU'RE A GENIUS!"

Alexandra grabbed her advisor and hefted her in a bear crushing hug.

"Thank you! Dear Gods I'm an idiot! Of course we can do that! We always could! And we can even expand the network, to have them step out directly into their assigned rooms!"

Emilia cringed slightly. She was tough, sure, but she wasn't quite indestructible, and her friend's hug was very tight.

"I...I'm glad...Now...Put me down...Can't....Breathe!"

"Oh, sorry!" Alexandra giggled as she put Emilia down, and took a step back to give the poor girl some breathing space. "I got a little too excited. But still, do you have any idea of how huge this is?"

Emilia shook her head slightly.

"Alright. Let me explain..."

*****

"So these idiots tried forcing this new...floor elevator?"

"Yes milady." Answered lieutenant Estar before shaking his head, almost in disbelief. "I don't know what they thought they were going to accomplish, but they did it, they managed to get into the passageway. Then, from I've seen the platform simply...blew up. So we rushed in, and, well...you know the rest."

Allya simply nodded, while privately wondering how was it that this particular lieutenant was always the one at the epicenter of such messes. Then again, he had proven his spirit of initiative and reliability ten times over during the well accident, so it was hardly surprising that he got the more sensitive assignments.

In any case, to say that she knew the rest was...an understatement. Everyone knew what had happened next. After the explosion of the elevator near the entrance the guard detachment had rushed in, fearing that another bunch of dungeon core thieves were at work. Unfortunately, some of the less bright among the adventurers had taken this as the signal that it was open season to rush into the dungeon. The only reason it hadn't degenerated into a full blown riot was because one of the newly arrived guild attendants had simply put themselves in the middle of the doorway, and told the adventurers that if they wanted to get in, they'd have to go through her. She'd have to thank that attendant in person, because she wasn't even sure she would have done the same thing in the same situation. Sure, attendants were practically sacro-sanct in the adventurers guild, and she'd quickly been backed by the more experienced adventurers, but it had still been an enormously risky move.

Thankfully however, the sight of an attendant had made the almost frenzied adventurers hesitate. They knew that if they even laid a finger on her they would be kicked out of the adventurers guild, period, at minimum. And that was beside any other punishment they might endure from regular authorities as well. By the time the mob had started to regain momentum Anders had come in person to handle the situation, with Artok in tow. Needless to say, the adventurers had immediately -and very politely- gone back to waiting at the previous line, and a fair amount of them had found something else to do with their time. Artok wasn't Starvak of course...but only a suicidal fool would mess with the leader of the assault guild in a dungeon town. And it didn't take a genius to realize that any order he gave in those circumstances would most likely be backed by the guildmaster himself, if only to preserve unity between the assault guild and the adventurers guild. Plus, the better part of an infantry platoon that Anders had brought with him -thanks to the reinforcements to the security force that had come with the convoy- had also been a rather pointed suggestion to be reasonable.

"Indeed I do. Still, it has almost started a riot...not to mention damaged the dungeon's entrance. Have the adventurers resurfaced yet?"

"No ma'am. It seems the dungeon resurrected them, the bodies were teleported away, not absorbed at least, but the adventuring party itself hasn't come back." Answered Anders.

"I see...well, double the guards at the entrance until they have resurfaced, and warn the adventurers guild that I intend to have them arrested. Then, the second they emerge from the dungeon, throw them in chains and bring them to me. Oh, and make some preparations for exiling them as well, preferably by sending them back to the Asarian Kingdom if possible."

Anders licked his lips.

"Ahem, ma'am, it sounds like you've already decided on their fate. Due process-"

"I am a baroness of the realm, and ruler of a frontier principality captain. Barring a royal warrant, due process is what I fucking say it is. And in that case, I want these idiots chained, and out of my city. Am I understood captain?"

Anders looked at her, and firmly nodded.

"Yes, of course milady."

Allya smiled.

"Don't worry captain, I don't intend to simply have them thrown out without at least giving them a trial, and reviewing the evidence...but I'm fairly sure what conclusion I'll reach regardless. Besides, this isn't necessarily about justice." She winced as Anders gave her a slightly confused look. "It's about making an example. Oh, I'm sure the dungeon will do her own version of that, but we need to make it clear to everyone that we won't condone messing with the dungeon...and their fate should serve as a pointed reminder to our would-be rioters that they shouldn't push it either, unless they want to share the same fate."

This time his nod was even firmer.

"Yes milady. I see milady. I'll pass on your instructions. With your permission?"

"Of course captain, you are dismissed."

"Thank you milady."

Anders bowed to her, then to Pyn, and promptly left, quickly followed by Entar.

Allya waited for him to leave the tent, before looking to the side at her girlfriend.

"You don't look particularly happy."

"Just because I agree with you doesn't mean I have to like what we're doing." The elf winced. "Let's be real, this isn't even remotely justice, we're purely using these guys to make examples. And, well...." She chuckled. "We kind of were like them a while ago. If you see what I mean."

Allya winced, and nodded.

"Point taken. Still, I disagree. There is some justice in it. If nothing else, I'd really like to avoid having our adventurers antagonize the dungeon we're all depending on to live as much as possible. And if it helps us make a few examples to prevent civil unrest, or score some points with the dungeon, then what of it?" She shrugged. "I know, it's cold blooded political calculus, but we're going to need a good dose of it if we want to stay in power out here."

Pyn nodded, then sighed.

"Well, now that this is dealt with, I have an aqueduct to finish." She smiled sardonically. "At least this way we won't have the newcomers complaining about the lack of running water!"

"Right. Come on now, shoo! Shoo!"

Pyn giggled as she got up, before planting a firm kiss on Allya's lips, and departing the tent.

Allya watched her leave -although her gaze was more oriented towards her girlfriend's posterior-, before shaking her head, and going back to the map spread on the table. She had her own things to do as well, and as little as she liked to admit it, the quasi-riot had been a good distraction from the endless paperwork. Not a welcome one, but it had been effective.

Well, enough dithering, all of these exciting forms aren't going to sign themselves! She thought to herself as she turned around and went towards her office.

Even her own internal voice failed at sounding excited.