Chapter Nine

The lay of the Land

Toot crawled out of the crevice and squinted in the bright sunshine. He knew that he was in the town of Goulcrest, but didn’t know what street he was on. He surveyed the area and took stock of where he stood and where the crevice laid. He realized that the cavern was fairly small, but there was a rock formation that made building there not impossible, but definitely not cost-effective. Which suited him right down to the ground. No one would want a piece of land that they would have to pummel with picks and sledgehammers to level out and then fill in a sizable hole on top of all that effort.

He noted that the space took up the size of four lots. Which meant he could put up four individual stores all at once if Dev agreed to it. The way he saw it they could do a weapon shop, a clothing store, a shoe store, and something else to be decided later. He’d cottoned on to the idea of the mortuary. It offered so much potential. That was getting new bodies and information, memories, skills, and a host of other things without having to kill a single person. Killing was something the overseers would be on the lookout for; that and the presence of adventurers. They would not be looking for shoppers.

The mortuary thought brought him a revelation. The fourth shop could be for refuse. Dev could provide a copper coin in exchange for a bag of trash. People threw away everything. Clothing, cutlery, food, ceramics, the list was endless. They could bring in the trash themselves so that he wouldn’t have to gather it, and they wouldn’t need to design a minion to do so either. Dev wouldn’t care about the copper, and would be getting all kinds of frameworks to replicate or experiment with. Broken things could be redesigned or pieced back together. He could see now that Dev hadn’t been thinking big enough. His idea had more potential than either of them had initially realized.

Dev, Toot thought, can you hear me?

Ah, yes, the shocked reply came. How are you doing this?

We are bonded companions, Toot thought at him, this isn’t all that special since I need to be able to communicate with you instantly inside of the dungeon, but outside of your confines the range will diminish quickly.

I see, Dev said with a hint of surprise at this revelation. What do you need? Are you testing your range?

No, Toot replied, I have a feel for where our contact point will end, and it isn’t far. What I am asking you to do is going to take some effort, but you need to do it as fast as you can.

No problem, what do you need, I was just looking over the enchantments I just got.

Toot knew that was a lie. He could still feel the core’s focus on the gold coin, but he didn’t care.

Please expand your territory to the opening of the crevice by the time I get back, If possible claim the empty space around it too. Just stop at the other buildings. This is going to help in a couple of ways. First, by having a direct connection to the outside your mana intake should increase slightly. Secondly, if you manage to claim those spaces then we’ll be able to rapidly build our stores. Otherwise, we’ll have to do it the hard way by hiring people.

And waste gold for labor? No thanks. I’ll get there even if I have to choke down a ton of granite. Dev’s tone carried sincerity and seriousness.

Good core! I’ll see you when I get back. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get everything I need done by the day's end.

See you then, Dev replied sounding like he had a mouthful of rocks.

Toot dusted himself off. He noted that he was on a street named Oleander Lane. His memory told him that the town hall was two blocks east, and so he started in that direction. He would be able to buy the lots there since they were owned by the town. He’d also be able to get his merchant’s license, a builder’s permit, and possibly a store blueprint for his new lots. H would even post a notice about accepting trash for coin. After that, he would head out to the other merchants and either buy some of their wares or gather their scraps. His goal today was to get everything he needed to set up shop on the morrow. If Dev could do what he’d been asked of then they were well on their way to hiding in plain sight.

It was a daring plan, and Toot respected Dev for having come up with it. He knew they hadn’t even come close to realizing the concept’s full potential, but they were just getting started. Who knew what they would come up with in a week? He whistled as he went, the world was his oyster and Dev the crowning pearl.

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Dev gnawed on the ground. He’d managed to add an additional three feet to his space. He was hedging his chances of getting to the small crevice opening by focusing on taking in small one square foot spaces in the direction of the opening. He could feel that he was supposed to expand spherically, a little at a time, but that would take far too long to get where he needed to be. He knew this because his vision in the rectangular space he was carving was blurry. It was like looking down a very small tunnel. He had no idea of what was outside of that expanse at all, and he didn’t care.

He could hear the sound of dripping water, but he hadn’t heard Toot splashing through it when he came or left, and so knew that he didn’t need to go there. Instead, he was following brightness. Where he’d been the only light had come from the funglows, but as he advanced he could see a steadily increasing luminesce on the cavern’s floor. That was leading him to the opening. Hopefully, he would make it there in a few hours, and then he’d be able to expand his sphere to match where he had gone.

Dev would have much preferred to have spent more time with his gold coin and could have done so by just setting his expansion to something called autoguide, but he wanted to steer the course properly. The way the autoguide worked was that it would let him grow his territory without having to think about it. It would just increase his area incrementally in whatever direction he specified, but he would have no control over it. He couldn’t tell it to head towards a light source; all he could do was give it a cardinal point to go, or just increase his sphere’s size and he was done. So, he had to do this job manually.

Even when he finished with that he was going to have to figure out how to disentangle the enchantments on the sword. He needed to add powers to his repertoire quickly. He had to take solace that he was resting on his beloved golden treasure and that it wasn’t going anywhere. He would have alone time with the coin soon enough, he rationalized.

A pang of guilt shot through Dev’s core. He hadn’t even considered what Toot was going through. The old man was out in the world, away from the safety of his dungeon core. Who knew what terrors he was facing as Dev complained that he couldn’t nestle up to his coin and snuggle it? The thought of the coin nearly made him forget poor Toot. Brave Toot, who had broken rules by bringing them both to a different world, and had cheated by finding a place with things he would have struggled to attain normally. What horrors was he facing even now?

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“What do you mean the lots aren’t for sale?” Toot gave his mustache a forceful smoothing and flicked his end at the clerk in irritation.

“Those lots,” the clerk pointed to a map of the town, “Have been listed as dangerous. There is a gaping chasm there that is a menace to the public safety.”

“I heard you the first time, lad,” Toot said through gritted teeth, “And I told you that I plan to take down the stone outcropping and fill in the ground beneath it. The only danger would be to me. I’ll get it done quick enough that no one will fall in.” His voice carried a low growl and said in no uncertain terms that if the clerk wanted to see a public menace there was one right before him.

“The town council has ruled that it is not financially feasible to do what you have planned. The costs would be enormous to consider. I have a nice pair of lots over on Jackson street that wouldn’t be a fraction of the fees associated with those lots.” The clerk pushed up his glasses and pointed to a spot a good distance away from the crevice.

Toot’s muscles tensed as he tried to get himself under control. It wouldn’t do to have him lose his temper over something like the purchasing of some land. He knew why they didn’t want to sell him the property. It had to do with the pile of skeletons near the entrance of the cavern’s opening. The spot was used by someone for dumping bodies. The man he’d give to Dev had just been the most recent one. He’d left the others for Dev to find on his own. It was a sort of surprise gift for the core. It was something that had been going on for a while, and a secret they wanted to be kept under wraps. He could understand that. If some traveler or envoy vanished without a trace then no one could accuse the town of having disposed of them, they probably met a grisly end somewhere on the road later. Regardless, he didn’t have time for this.

“I want to speak to the mayor.”

The clerk sniffled and rolled his eyes. It was clear that he was becoming annoyed with dealing with Toot. He rolled up the map of the town and slipped it underneath his window counter.

“I am afraid that his honor does not see visitors from out of town without an appointment. I would be happy to schedule one for you. I have an opening in six months. Would you like to secure that date? Of course, the mayor may have urgent town business come up, so I cannot guarantee his availability,” he said with a smug grin.

“No, I’ll see him now,” Toot glared back wanting to wipe that look off the clerk’s ratty face. “You tell him I need to see him in regards to the numerous bodies contained in your little murder hole, particularly one that had a knife wound in his underarm. Feel free to rush. I’ll wait here.”

The clerk turned pale and grew even paler as Toot spoke. By the time Toot had finished his sentence the little man was running to what Toot assumed was the mayor’s office. A predatory grin crossed his face. He tried not to let it show, and his mustache helped, but it would have sent shivers down the spine of anyone who saw it.

Two minutes later the clerk reappeared, his face was red and dripping with sweat, and his voice quavered as he spoke.

“H-h-his honor has an opening right now. His office is down the hall and is the last door on the right.”

Toot gave the man a curt nod and headed in the direction he’d been instructed to take. He didn’t like letting the animalistic side of his personality slip out, but he’d just been so aggravated that he couldn’t help himself. Hopefully, the mayor was going to be in a better disposition for talking business.

If not, then he had no qualms about letting the beast out.