Altura

I sighed as I tried to keep myself from falling asleep. Apparently, not only was screening members exhausting, it was also long-winded, time-consuming work that really did not like to end. From a list of about ninety choices Aswelth had given me, I had, after interviews and background checks, been able to cut it down to thirty.

But I did not need thirty people to start with. I wanted a manageable group of ten. Now I was stuck with three times the number and no way to reasonably cut them. All of them seemed to have something that I wanted on my team. In the end I had decided to keep all thirty on probation.

And that brought me to the next item on the list. Rehabilitating the refugees. Some had already found their homes, someone called Eugene had volunteered to be a kindergarten teacher, even going so far as to ask to be interrogated under aura so that we could trust her.

All it had taken was Aswelth asking her a couple of questions, and she had joined the staff. It had also given me an idea on how to weed out spies. Just have someone aura test everyone in the room. The problem here was that it was an extremely unpleasant process and making employees go through it was what I would call unethical.

At the same time, I did not have the luxury of trusting everyone, the administrative Wing in particular would be dealing with extremely sensitive information. From war plans and strategic movements in case of attack to information on the forest, the duchy’s wealth etc. Letting most of that out in public was not an option.

Besides, I had absolutely no doubt that the nobles would not even hesitate to torture any captured member to get the secrets. That meant giving members security guards, raising their cultivation and thus limiting the effect the aura pressure had.

Therefore, there was only one real option, we needed to get our own truth caster. Or at least that was what I had named people that wielded judging elements. Someone who could also serve as the judge. The only problem was that there was no way to know who would turn out to be a truth caster, only educated guesses based on the person’s nature could be made.

I had, however, ordered Aswelth to have the next batch of recruits to the forest to be completely composed of people with a justice focused mindset. Hopefully at least one would get something close.

“Excuse me, your grace.” a teenager said knocking on the door. This was Hagril, one of the city’s many orphans who had volunteered to be my assistant. I must say, having an assistant really drove home how ‘big’ I was now. Assistants in my mind were reserved for big CEOs and government officials. But that was exactly what I was, wasn’t I?

“Yes, Hagril?” I asked.

“A person has arrived at the City Gate claiming to have information on the source of the Jade river.” Halgril answered, making me jump to my feet. The Jade river was the river that ran through the core area of the Jade Sect and was its namesake. It was the only river that sported fresh water lotuses that were considered to be a symbol of the Jade Sect.

The controversy surrounding it however, was that the river seemed to emerge from within the borders of the Kingdom, its source however was nowhere to be seen. If this person really had the information, it would be war. The Jade Sect would never stand for the Kingdom having any access to the river, let alone its source.

“Any sign of the Jade Sect?” I asked, rushing outside.

“Not yet, your grace.” Halgril replied. At least that was a good thing. I sped off towards the city gate, leaving Halgril behind. Thanks to my now enhanced stats I was able to speed to the gate in a matter of minutes. I had to admit, I was curious about who and what this man was.

Arriving at the gate, I found Aswelth glaring at a well-dressed man holding some kind of package in his arms. I slowed down as I approached, letting my clothes fall into a more normal pattern. It wouldn’t do to look untidy. I was an Archduchess after all.

“So, what is going on here?” I said as I stepped close to Aswelth trying to look as noble as I could.

“This man claims to be an information broker here to trade, your grace.” Aswelth replied. “I think he is a smuggler here to sell you fake information.”

“I see, and has he offered anything as proof?” I asked, ignoring the man himself.

“No, your grace, he claims that the package he holds contains the proof and that he will open it only before you.” Aswelth replied.

“I see. Then perhaps it would be best if we have it opened then?” I replied as I summoned an Ice dome around me. Aswelth added his own Qi to the mix, enhancing the mixture to far beyond anything I could manage.

"So, Mr-" I asked the man.

"Vorilius, your grace. " The man replied.

"So, Mr. Vorilius, what proof do you have that will convince me that you were able to get your hands on information the Kingdom has wanted for centuries? " I asked. Vorilius was giving me a significant scammer feel. Overly dressed, wearing a suit and tie in the woods, holding a 'mysterious package' and demanding to see the boss before opening it. And claiming to have very valuable information that he knew would be extremely valuable to me.

"This, your grace," Vorilius said as he opened the package to reveal a painting.

"This is the painta- revera from the Sect hall itself, it shows the location of the source of the Jade river. After much hard work I managed to trace this river back to a cliff North of here. " Vorilius said, exposing even more holes in his story.

North of here were the farming villages and the forest. And since the area around the farming villages was well mapped and had no cliffs at all, the only place this so-called source could be was the forest. For some reason, I doubted that this person had actually ventured into that beast infested forest. Then there was the source of the painting itself.

"So, you must be a Treeling at least Mr Vorilius, how else would you simply steal a painting from the Main hall of the Sect? " I said. At this point I was pretty sure this guy was a scammer.

Vorilius paused for a second, clearly surprised by the question, but the scammer wasn’t done yet. “It is merely a public painting, your grace, I was able to acquire it through one of the Sect Elders. The Elder was unaware of the painting true worth, thinking it to be a simple decoration, he was still loath to part with it, but I was generous in payment. I hope you will be too.” Vorilius said.

A somewhat believable argument. I could see some Elder pawning a painting for an extravagant price because he had some debts. But there was still a little hole in the argument.

“Oh? Then how did you come by such information if even the Sect Elders are unaware?” I asked.

“I have my sources, your grace. And I would prefer to keep them secret.” Vorilius replied. The greatest shield of scammers, a secret unverifiable source.

“Then I fear that I will not be buying this painting. I cannot justify spending money on something that might be real. And has debatable benefits even if it were real.” I replied, dropping the dome.

As soon as the words left my mouth, Vorrilius’ entire demeanor changed.

“That would be a mistake, your grace, this is not an opportunity I or my organization will be willing to offer again.” Vorillius said, no longer even remotely amiable. But my attention was no longer on his words. A sense of danger had emerged the second Vorillius had begun speaking.

And I knew to trust my instincts now, they were supernatural after all.

‘Ice protect me, fire shield me, and lightning strike my foe!’

I commanded. In an instant a shield of fire appeared around me and a snowflake formed in front of me, slowing the advance of an approaching dagger long enough for the fire to completely destroy it. A bolt of purple lightning had meanwhile knocked Vorillius onto the ground. In a blink of an eye, Aswelth was there holding a sword to his neck.

Vorillius’ eyes widened as he exclaimed, “How?! How are you a Plantling already? No, no…spare me, your grace! I… I have wealth! I have assets that could bring your duchy to greater heights!”

“And what is it that you have that is valuable enough to earn you a pardon for attempted murder against the Archduchess?” Aswelth said, in a monotone manner that said, ‘It's useless. Nothing your have will save you. At this point Vorilius was full on panicking.

“I… I… I know! Doesn’t your duchy need a judge elemented person? I have one! Just a few days ago my men captured one from the Dark Empire! A commoner that had just become a cultivator by killing a beast! I can offer him to you! Have at him! Just leave me alone!” Vorilius said as my face darkened.

Offering people as ‘commodities’ was the act of one particular kind of organization that I did not have any tolerance for.

“Tell me, Vorilius, does this organization of yours engage in slavery?” I asked.

Vorilius grinned at that saying, “Yes, your grace! I can offer you many-” I had heard enough at that point.

“Aswelth, would you please release your aura on this man, so I can ask him where exactly his victims are.” I said. Aswelth complied causing Vorillius to begin shivering.

But at this point I had no pity for this man. I turned to him and said, with my most intimidating face, “Tell me, Vorillius, if that is even your real name. Where are these slaves of yours?”.