Chapter 18: An Offer You Can’t Refuse

Status

Unspent Status Points: 10

Physical

Strength 1

Endurance 2

Agility 4

Dexterity 3

Ethereal

Charm 1

Faith 1

Attunement 1

Soul 4

I looked at my stat sheet. The fight with the Tarnished had bumped two of my skills up a level, which left me with more stat points to spend.

I still didn’t really get these stat points. Did they have second order effects? The physical ones certainly seemed to. But would I become more faithful if I put points in Faith? Or were they just numbers plugged into my skills? On one hand, I wanted to run some tests on these, but every point was precious. The last three points that I’d invested in Soul had paid dividends in that fight.

I certainly wasn’t feeling more soulful.

But what if they had larger effects later on?

After a moment, I huffed. Being all indecisive like this? It was a bad look. And here I’d made fun of Electra, while I was agonizing over where to put all of my points.

I heard a cough from the side. “Lady Via.”

I rubbed my eyes. “More of them, already?”

Rel nodded. I could see a smirk playing around the corners of her lips. “It would seem so.” She’d gotten pretty cheeky recently. Not that I hated it.

With a sigh, I distributed my stat points and confirmed.

Status

Unspent Status Points: 0

Physical

Strength 2

Endurance 3

Agility 5

Dexterity 4

Ethereal

Charm 4

Faith 1

Attunement 3

Soul 5

I’d stick with a balanced build for now, see if I could pick out any other effects that matched up later on.

Except for faith.

Fuck religion. Not to mention that the voice told me there were in fact gods in this world and I did not want to attract their attention. Oh, sure this wasn’t a very scientific approach to things, but magic wasn’t supposed to be a science in the first place. I was spending all of my free time doing science with my science without having to worry about whatever nonsensical light-novel magic system the gods or whomever had slapped onto this reality.

I turned to the front of the warehouse before my nose suddenly started to itch. I sneezed into my wrist. “Ugh. Dust.” I ran a hand through my hair, flicking it back over my shoulder with a negligent twist. “Let’s go.”

Rel stared at me, eyes blinking.

I tilted my head at her leaning in. “Rel?” I peered up into her eyes. “Is something wrong?”

Her eyes widened and she stumbled back a step. “N-nothing.”

I frowned at her, but my Minion was already heading towards the front of the warehouse. After a moment, I shrugged. She’d tell me if it was important. I followed a step after her, smiling as Rel opened the door for me without asking.

I’d never say, but the cutest bit was how she still stuttered sometimes, no matter how composed she tried to act.

Outside my warehouse were four men and a woman, all older than me, just going by the wrinkles in the faces. Their classes were and and not much else between them, just like every other group of people that came to the warehouse after I’d beaten back the Tarnished.

I held back a sigh. This is what I got for offering a decent wage to people who worked for me, huh? Hiring the first group had seemed like such a good idea at the time.

Well, the only reward for good work was more work, as they say. “I take it you’re all here to work for me.”

There were some glances, before they nodded silently. I placed a hand on my hip, looking down at each of them. They looked hungry and down on their luck, but that was nothing new. “There’s a bunk house across the street. Go there, get some food in your bellies.” I narrowed my eyes as the new recruits shifted. “Consider that part of the payment for the work you will be doing. Coin will come later, but I don’t tolerate broken agreements, on either side.” I waved a hand. “If you still want to work for me, go see Dee and Dum and they’ll get you situated.”

The food was just a simple stew, but making people work on an empty stomach? Please.

I had standards.

I looked down at them for a moment more before one of the older men sketched a little bow. “Thank you kindly, Empress.”

I waved a hand, going back inside my workshop with Rel half a step behind. I made my way over to my workbench, where General Tock was organizing the tools I’d managed to put together. “At this rate, it’ll start getting difficult to feed them all.”

Rel stopped a bit behind me. She shrugged. “It’s useful to have more hands.”

I nodded silently. The old building across the street had been torn down and rebuilt into a bunk house in the fraction of the time it took me to put my little foundry together. There wasn’t anything of value left in the docks, but piles of stone that used to be buildings? There were more than enough of those to go around.

“We’re not exactly flush with coin all the same.” I should know, I was the only one with a good enough grasp of math to do the accounting.

Considering all I needed was some multiplication and division, that said more about this place than it did about me.

“I can always tell the enforcers to turn them away, Lady Via.”

I felt my lips quirk into a frown. “And leave them to starve?”

Rel shrugged again. “They’ve made it this far.”

“Yes. They have.” I leaned over my workbench. I’d known plenty of people who’d made it ‘this far’ in my life. For some reason, I wasn’t too interested in making more of them. “We’ll have to expand.”

At that, Rel smiled. I scoffed at her happy expression. “Please, you didn’t really think I was going to hang them out to dry.” I gave her a gentle shove.

Rel took a step back, before laughing. “I just… want to be helpful.”

I rolled my eyes. “You are. More than I can say.” I rolled my eyes. “And I don’t need you playing devil’s advocate.” I tapped my head. “Got enough of them up here already.”

“Ah… r-right.” Rel nodded. “What should we do then?”

I hummed, turning back to my workbench. On it I’d put a single iron ingot. Steel was harder to make, but we had plenty of charcoal now, our only ‘expense’ outside of labor. “There’s always a need for more steel…”

I was drawn from my thoughts by a banging on the doors to the warehouse. “Boss! Got a boy here from the Rusted Knives here for you!”

I shared a glance with Rel, before pushing myself upright and marching back to the door. Outside was a man, but unlike the ones who’d been trickling in to work for me, he didn’t look worn down by the world.

“Hello, Empress.” He gave a friendly smile, running a hand through his dark red hair.

I raised an eyebrow at him.

Not a pushover then. I was only level 5, rare class or not.

“And you are?”

“Devarin, at your service!” He gave me an elaborate bow. “My boss sent me because he wants to talk.” His smile widened. “Someone’s been moving and shaking in this part of the docks.”

I waved a hand. “I’m not doing anything special.”

“It will be a nice and short conversation then.”

I sighed. Politics. This was why I refused to work with any other villains. “And I suppose your boss wants a face to face meeting and all of that too.”

“Of course.”

“Well.” I folded my arms. “Tell him we can meet on the edge of my territory, there’re plenty of buildings for him to choose from if he wants to sit down.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I should have been more clear.” Devarin tilted his head, and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck go up. “You’ll be meeting with him now, at the Poisoned Apple.”

That was the name of a tavern close to the center of their territory. According to Dee and Dum, the knives used it as a de facto headquarters.

I nodded, tapping my chin. “And why, pray tell, would I ever agree to do something as stupid as that?”

“Well, because you don’t have much of a choice, of course!”

I stepped back, hand coming up with my spell already formed. Devarin made no move to dodge.

Then I heard Rel hiss behind me.

Devarin smiled as I froze. “Go on, I promise I won’t attack… first.”

Slowly, I glanced over my shoulder. There was a person wearing a dark hood. They had their arms around Rel, pressing a knife to her neck.

There was a commotion across the small dirt road as the door to the bunkhouse flew open. More men with knives came out, pushing my people in front of them.

Last out were Dee and Dum, sporting more bruises and cuts than I remembered seeing them with.

Every single one of the Rusted Knives was a rogue or an assassin. Higher level than us, and they outnumbered us as well.

To say nothing about the knives threatening my people.

Slowly, I lowered my hand. In my chest, the surprise faded, replaced by a growing volcanic rage. They’d gotten me, without me even realizing I was in danger.

“Now then.” Devarin held out his arm. “Shall we go?” He cast a faux careless glance over his shoulder. “I’m sure you don’t want to be… late.”

I did not growl at him. I didn’t let a single speck of anger show on my face.

Control your anger. Never let it control you.

I pushed it down, building walls around my anger, like coals in a forge. They glowed bright hot, but on the surface, I remained as cool as ice.

“Of course.” I slipped my hand into his elbow, putting on a smile. “I would love to.”

I fell in step behind Devarin as his men moved to tie up the rest of my people. I cast a single look back at Rel. She met my eyes, question plain in her gaze, but I shook my head.

She wouldn’t gain anything by dying pointlessly here.

“Something on your mind?” Devarin asked.

“No.” And after this little display… “Nothing at all.”

My revenge would be much more personal.