I’ve been watching the new governors this morning.

Fiction from my time will have you believe “nobles,” or I suppose whatever equivalent fills the role in a society, are arrogant snobs. And while my observations don’t entirely dispute that assumption, naturally reality is a bit more nuanced than that.

At the start of the day, I followed two governors who were making rounds around Sevit, meeting keystone residents. The first traveling governor was Kyle Ponce, a rotund man with a perpetual smile on his face. I like this fellow so far; from what I’ve seen, he’s polite to everyone he meets and doesn’t bring his high position into conversations. Essentially, he gave me a down-to-earth and almost humble impression. Or he’s a convincing actor…

The other itinerant governor was Draven Campbell. This is the man who’d so rudely demanded that Wes reveal everything he knows about me at the dinner table last night. He more closely fits the noble stereotype, yet he’s obviously more cunning than what might be initially perceived. To clarify, Draven was somewhat impolite and hostile to a few of the city folk he’d interacted with today. Though paradoxically, this wasn’t universally the case; he clearly tried to buddy up with people such as the blacksmiths, Clifford, Urist, and several seemingly random shopkeepers.

This behavior confuses me, I cannot discern what similarity was shared between the individuals Draven was sociable towards. What pattern was there, and what could he possibly gain from alienating others at random?

Maybe there is no reason, perhaps he’s just irrational… No, there must be more to it than that.

Regardless, I don’t much like him, but that might in part be due to the poor first impression he gave me last night.

Onwards, the developments in the administration building where the remaining thirteen governors are currently assembled have been much more interesting. For most of the morning, the discussion has revolved around the initiation of several major infrastructure projects, something which will only serve to benefit me. Alton Hran took charge of the conversation as he’d displayed a deep understanding of these matters.

Currently on the table were basic ideas for a road network, something Wes will no doubt support as I’ve heard he’s interested in running a logistics service, a defensive stone wall, and a dedicated market. Even if I don’t sell my assistance for the roadway construction, it’ll make my future enterprises simpler and will undoubtedly bring prosperity to Sevit. From my understanding, the governors are looking to lay a cobbled road, but I can do so much better than that. Yes indeed!

A stone wall is interesting, I mean, if Earth history tells me anything, the advent of explosives should hail the end of stone wall practicality. And while I haven’t yet confirmed whether or not black powder has been discovered yet, I know for a fact that magic allows for explosions. It was even used against me by that ill-fated mage!

So, that this is even being considered means one of three implications are true. Option one, humans and/or their enemies don’t have access to this kind of air pressurization magic. Though I highly doubt this is the case because my current observations and research of human runework has left me quite impressed. Second, there is some way to magically fortify walls, be that through a barrier of some sort, structural magic. Or third, anti-magic, if such a thing even exists.

Hmm, on that note, I really do have a lot left to learn, how exciting! …But also dangerous, anything I don’t know can be used to surprise me and subvert my preparations…Again.

The market will also be useful to me, depending on how my upcoming conversation with the governors goes.

By now, Kyle has already arrived at the administration building and is catching up with the gathered governors, and Draven is walking through the entryway. Following Wes’ advice, I’ve decided to wait until they’ve entered my block cache before making contact.

Meeting with his fellows, Draven relays his experiences from today and then they all depart from the otherwise unfurnished central room. On their way out, they pass the threshold to another room in which Wes is lounging. Making a ‘come hither’ gesture, one of them signals for Wes to follow them out of the entirely wooden building.

Outside, wait four of the luxurious horse carriages which must each belong to four corresponding individual governors. With an internal occupancy of four humans each and fifteen governors plus one able merchant, the math works out beautifully. Each carriage has a driver and three guards sitting on front and rear external benches.

Frankly, for a total of twelve guards, a few of which are even mages, this seems to be overkill. I really can’t see how anyone from Sevit could do them any harm, but then again, I’m operating on an information deficit.

Wes is the last person to enter a carriage, as soon as he does, the procession departs for the mine.

In the meantime, I decided to eavesdrop on the conversations going on inside the carriage containing Wes. It’ll be a short trip; the mine is a little over a kilometer away.

Alton, who is sharing the carriage with Wes, said to his fellow passengers, “We’ve been discussing our next course of action. One of the goals of the Upheaval Project was to establish an overland trade route with the Isolet Republic. This is why our chamber has invested so heavily into Sevit, it has always been intended to serve as a waypoint along the route.”

Upheaval Project? That’s new to me, I’ll have to ask about it later.

Seemingly in lecture mode, not that I’m complaining, Alton continues, “The Isolens are working to establish a corresponding city of their own. Together, our cities will serve as a staging ground for our forces to protect the new trade network. Eventually, we may even be able to push back the ravenous elves!”

A momentary pause ensues, after which Wes said, “Our empire has done well to deny the elves this stretch of Merival Wood, but surely the Capital Chamber’s colonization plan calls for the founding of other cities besides just Sevit. With all this fresh territory ripe for the taking, I fail to see why we wouldn’t expand more aggressively, especially as a measure against beasts and savages.”

One of the other governors asserts himself and answers Wes’ question, “In fact, the Rendum Chamber was tasked with founding three cities simultaneously out here, however, once we realized we’d discovered a new mana well, our chamber decided to redirect all of our efforts here instead. Believe it or not, developing and holding a mana well is of greater strategic importance than securing these vast unclaimed lands. Of course, our glorious empire has deemed this public knowledge.”

Nodding in understanding, Wes said, “I see. I presume the intention is to resume the colonization of other locations only after Sevit is well fortified then?”

In, from my perspective, a cute show of synergy, the fourth governor replies, “Indeed, though I’d like to clarify the timeline. It could be years before we refocus our efforts elsewhere, Sevit needs to be massive in order to reap the highest rewards. As you may already know, with active enemies on multiple fronts, our empire isn’t exactly in the best position to be developing uninhabited lands right now, no, what it needs most is arcane materials and devices. Thus, just as we need this mana well for the war effort, it must also be kept away from our neighbors.”

Conveniently, just as the governor’s talk with Wes was wrapping up, their carriage stopped. We have arrived at the mine.

As they climbed out of their extravagant rides, I saw the now-familiar face of Sevit’s first mining planner, Urist Rudar.

I watched him lock eyes with Draven and jot over. He said, “Welcome to Sevit’s first and only mine! I’m told y’all are here to check out our secretive supplier’s operation, is that correct?”

Draven replied, “Spot on, though I’m sure we’d all appreciate it if you explained your work while we’re on our way down, would you join us?”

“I’d be happy to! Right this way!”

Before entering the ever-widening sloped entrance, the enthusiastic head-miner said simply, “Arken watch over us.”

“Alright, the cache is just a few minutes’ walk away, so I’ll try to keep it brief. That said, you are all welcome to seek me out at a later time if need be!”

As they descended the central shaft, Urist took an oil lamp from the wall and lit it with a small flint. I want to make a note here that this is the first time I’ve witnessed one of these lamps in use in this mine, up until now the miners have been solely relying upon amorphous candles for illumination.

Urist said, “Incredibly, the surrounding stone is predominantly unjointed. My men and I are unsure about why that is, but the lack of cracks implies this is relatively new growth from Melk. Regardless, it’s a major boon because it means we don’t have to shore our passages as frequently. Indeed, you may have seen the wide spacing between supports.”

“You also might’ve noticed the acute lack of any pumping hardware. We made a gamble that we’d breach the first subterrane quickly. Of course, this was a safe bet because almost all mana wells exhibit shallow cave systems, for whatever reason. We were able to keep flooding in check with mere buckets because we did, in fact, strike a cave early on, and since then we’ve carved drainage channels towards it.”

Kyle asked, “From my understanding, the entrance to Wes’ business partner’s cache is not too far from your mine, was that somehow a coincidence?”

Not picking up on the ominous undertone, Urist said, “Exactly! It’s truly surprising, isn’t it?”

“Certainly.”

You know, I expected Draven to make a fuss right about now, but then again, Urist is one of the people he’s been cozying up with.

The group came across the boundary between the artificial and natural tunnels the miners had opened into. Already plant and fungal vegetation was beginning to spread into the mine. While I’m sure it would’ve propagated even faster if this area was fully saturated by my domain, I’m still amazed by the rapid growth rate. Arcanasynthesis is truly broken!

Urist said, “Ok now, we’ve already cleared the surroundings of any dangers as my men are using this very cave system to bootstrap deeper prospecting, so you should be safe. While I’m sure we’ve uprooted all of them in the area, if you encounter any glowing purple bulbs, please avoid them and let me know. If you get stung by one, scream immediately, I will need to quickly administer an antivenom.”

To say nothing of how difficult preserving antivenoms is without refrigeration, I need to somehow ask Wes how widespread it is without sounding shady, my archer pods could be a useless deterrent depending on how plentiful and effective it is.

Oh! Speaking of which, I’d told Wes I would contact him when he entered the mine, I totally forgot!

“Hey Wes, I’m so sorry I forgot to call when you entered, is everything alright?”

Wes’ response was delayed as he was making small talk with one of the governors, “It’s fine Ike, while I was a little bit worried that you’d disappear on me for a couple of weeks again, I haven’t actually required anything of you yet. Though that’s about to change, we’ll arrive at your cache in just a moment, so get ready.”

“Gotcha, I’m about to expand this mental link to everyone present, though it’ll be one-way for simplicity’s sake. Therefore, if you wish to speak, you’ll have to do so aloud. Actually, could you please explain that to them right now? Thanks.”

“Of course.”