"Please tell me your day went better than mine." I groan and flop down next to Amelia.

"What are you talking about." Apricot laughs. "Watching them all fall over, and over, and over again was the funniest thing I'm seen in days."

"That bad?" Amelia asks only to bark out a laugh when I show her one of them getting spooked by a rabbit and flipping forward off the bike when they panicked and lost control. "Wait, I know those woods. Did you go up to Southwood?"

"Yeah, took the opportunity to lay down some phone relays." I explain. "Then we had race on the way back. He lost." I laugh and play the Mage's fall in reverse.

"So, we're still on for tonight?" She bares her teeth when I nod in the affirmative. "Good. Runyon was very interested in the tugboat, especially after I took him down to the docks and Baca let him pilot the boats."

"That's good." I yawn out. "I'll build one for him when we get back, but right now, I need a nap. Mind waking me when it starts getting dark?" I set an alarm just in case, but she looks too keyed up to sleep right now.

"Alright, baby. You sleep well. I love you." She squeezes my knee and get up to go in the other room with Apricot.

"I know." I mumble into my pillow and fall asleep to the sound of her groaning and Apricot's laughter.

...

"Time to get up baby." Amelia nudges my shoulder.

"Mmm, morning." I pull her down for a kiss, after casting Cleanse on my teeth first, morning breath is no joke.

"Heheheh, we can play later, silly. Your troops are waiting for you." She laughs and pulls away.

"More like glorified luggage carriers." Apricot snorts.

"Oh, be nice." Amelia chides her. "Their home is threatened and they just want to strike back, even if it is just by offering up their inventory space."

"Are they all ready?" I ask while changing into a fresh outfit.

"Yeah." Apricot answers. "But, you're the only one who actually took your advice to get some rest."

"I'll make them coffee later if they need it." I shrug. Stats don't do away with the need for sleep, but it certainly makes it easier to ignore the side-effects. "I'll be doing the heavy lifting anyways, and after last night, I needed a couple extra hours." My kiss lets her know that if we didn't have things to do I'd be more than happy to go for a repeat performance.

"Alright." She grins evilly after we pull apart. "Alright, let's do this."

"I'd love to, but we've got a heist to pull off." I squeeze her ass and stalk out the door, ready to face the night.

...

"I didn't think it would be this boring." Apricot grumbles after about an hour into the trip.

"Boring is good." I counter. "It's best if they don't even know we've been here until long after we're gone. Besides, we're almost there. Just a few more minutes, and you can watch me throw around enough magic to rip a mountain apart."

"So, just like every other day then." Amelia interjects with a laugh.

"Ha-ha." I deadpan before sitting upright as I pick upon something I didn't expect. "Well, that's interesting, and useful, very useful."

"What is it?" Nikki, the Fire Mage, perks up at the tone of my voice.

"Looks like Berkie gave the mages a second chance after Riverton. The Earth and Fire Awakened have been stationed here to dig out and process ores. There is a very large stockpile of metal just waiting for us."

"Good." She snarls.

"Yes, it is." I agree, but Amelia and I share a look that says 'this one needs watching over'. "Alright, Liza, Packston, Dieter. As soon as we stop, I want you three cubing up the metal, so everyone can store it."

"And the Mages?" Nikki asks, her face clearly showing her desire to have a go at them.

"I will get them to empty their inventories." I state, with steel in my voice. "There's a suspicious lack of precious metals in the stockpile, and I'm sure they're holding onto it."

I stop the bus outside a large stone building that looks freshly constructed, like the Earth Mages work. Opposite the building is a walled storage yard with a small mountain of refined metal inside.

"Damn, I think they beat you to ripping the mountain apart." Liza says when she catches sight of the stored metal. "There's got to be a thousand cubic meters in there."

"Well, that's half our job done then." Packston slaps her on the back before sinking the wall into the ground.

We're not bothering to be stealthy at this point because, as per the plan, I've got everyone under a Sleep spell. I don't bother going inside after the Cendassans, and instead just open up a few holes in the wall and pull them out to me.

"Time to wake up." I say in a sing-song voice. "Come on now, you've got guests. You can't just expect to sleep the night away." The confusion of finding themselves not laying in their beds, but being held up in front of a dozen laughing Mages shows on their faces for a moment before being swiftly replaced by fear.

"Nnh, not you again." A mousy looking Earth Mage whimpers when she spots me. This draws the attention of, and several oaths from the rest of them.

"Yes, me again." I put on my most winning smile. "And, I must thank you for doing all this hard work for me." I gesture to the mountain of metal that's already starting to shrink. "But, I'm guessing that not everything you dug up is in there. So, if you all would please empty your inventories."

"Fuck you." The foul-mouth belongs to a young Fire Mage. "You can't make us, and if we die it all goes poof."

"Oh goody." My smile turns wicked. "See, I was planning to investigate the Deadlands soon, and it looks like you just volunteered to test its long term effects on Awakened."

He blanches and the rest of them hurry to comply with my request. The girl next to him reaches over and smacks him on the head while I'm moving everything out of the way. "Fucking do what he said, you idiot."

"Yes, yes." He begins unloading his inventory, starting with over a cubic meter of solid gold. "I'm terribly sorry sir; I've never been able to think straight until I have my morning tea. Please don't take me to the desert." He looks like he's about to piss himself. "This is everything, I swear."

"And, the rest of you?" I ask and they all answer truthfully in the affirmative. "Oh, very well." I let out a deep, melodramatic sigh. "I suppose its more hassle to haul you down there, than it's worth. I do recommend that you all take your loved ones and leave Cendassa... Soon."

"I told you that bastard Palmer had the right idea." The one that smacked him speaks up again. "I don't know about the rest, but I for one am gone as soon as you let me go."

"In the morning. For now, Sleep!" I put them all under again, and return them to their beds.

"Is that it?" Nikki growls. "You're just going to let them go?"

"Yes." I reply simply before turning my back on her. "Amelia, if you would store the valuables, I'll get started digging."

"Don't just fucking ignore me!" Little miss anger issues shouts at my back as I lift off the ground to go further into the mountains.

"Sprouse." I say while looking over my shoulder. "Turning them into martyrs does nothing for Larendath. I let these five go so that their fear will spread and take fifty more with them. Now, I suggest that you look deep and hard into the source of your anger, and root it out before it burns you up." Having said my piece, I go back to what I was doing.

Calling Blackthorne to my hand, I open up a rent in the side of the mountain. They've already pulled out the easily accessible ores, But there's still plenty to grab. I've just got to go a bit deeper.

"Hmm?" I frown down at the staff in my hands. "Looks like it was a function of distance from the tree, and not proximity to the desert." I can still draw over ninety percent of my max through it at this distance, which means it should still be more than effective for most of the continent.

Pushing the thoughts about my staff to the back of my mind, I focus back on the mining operation. I start by scooping up anything, and everything precious or rare within my prodigious range I.E. this whole section of the mountain range.

Once that's done, I grab and send back enough iron to fill out the rest of our inventories. After that's taken care of, I decide that since we saved so much time, I might as well spend some of it to further hamper Cendassa. So, I latch on to all the veins of ore and start spreading them out mixing the ore with the surrounding rock. They can still send in Earth Mages to recover it, but it's going to be a pain in the ass.

I stop and rejoin the others with just over an hour until dawn. Most of them are sleeping on the bus with a few left on watch. I let Amelia and Apricot know what I was doing and when I'd finish, so they're awake and waiting for me.

"All done?" My Mage greets me with a yawn.

"Yes." I nod and pull both of them into a hug. "Thanks for staying up for me. Any trouble on this end?"

"Nah." Apricot answers. "The angry one got all weepy after melting the slag pile into... well, more slag." She laughs. "It's been quiet since then. Did you leave the message?"

"Leave. Larendath. Alone." I send out three pulses of magic in time with my words to light up the side of the mountain. The message is written high up on its face and will be visible for hundreds of kilometers.

""Hahahahah."" The both start laughing so hard that it wakes the others. One of them asks what's going on, but the rest are drawn by the light and quickly point it out for him.

"Alright, job's done." I start the bus. "Let's roll." The mages just stare out the window for a moment before joining my wives in their laughter.

***

The gate guards called ahead after passing us through, so Baron Pepi was waiting when the bus pulled up to his manor.

"Good morning Marquis, Marchionesses." He greets us with a bow. "I take it that everything went well." My shit-eating grin is all the answer he needs. "Excellent." His smile grows to match mine.

"Yes, they were using mages to build up a nice little stockpile. Did half the work for me, I had enough free time that I was able to mix up the ore with the surrounding rock. The only feasable way to get metal out of that mountain is with magic now."

"You ruined their most productive mine?" His jaw drops open. He recovers quickly though, and soon sounds just like we all did an hour ago. "Hahahah."

"I also left a little message for King Berkie." I smirk and show him what the mountain looks like now.

"The top of that peak is just visible from their capital." He starts laughing even harder when I tell him that's why I did it.

"Alright." I pat him on the shoulder. "I hate to be a poor guest, but the girls are dead on their feet, and I still need to call Her Majesty."

"Of course." He bows again and we head off to our rooms.

"Don't take too long on the phone." Amelia orders me in a sleepy voice before crawling into bed and snuggling with Apricot.

"I'll join you in just a minute." I lean over the bed and give them both a quick kiss before slipping into the other room.

"Sorrel. How did it go?" The Queen must have been waiting for my call, because she answered after just the first ring.

"Better than expected." I reply and the smile that can easily be heard in my voice. "They'd sent the Earth and Fire mages from Riverton to process and stockpile metal. So, since Berkie did half the work for us, I spent the extra time to smooth out all the ore I could into the surrounding stone. I also left a little message on the side of the mountain telling him to leave Larendath alone."

"You didn't?" She says but I can tell she's holding back her laughter.

"I did. I also grabbed about fifty tonnes of gold, and over twice that in silver." The coins they use all weigh the same as one cubic centimeter of whatever metal they're made of, so that means I have almost two-and-a-half million in gold, and over one hundred million in silver.

"No! Hahahahah." This time she can't hold back her laughter.

"Yes, the vein was mostly played out, but again, they did half the work for me. There was also a good chunk of titanium, and a fair bit of platinum, along with a few other things that I grabbed just because they were there."

"Okay, would you please give the Mages each ten-thousand golds as a bonus? And then, please upgrade the Baron's treasury and leave him with half a million gold, and ten times that in silver."

"First thing in the afternoon." A yawn slips out as I answer. "But, right now, I would dearly love to join my wives in bed." The only reason I'm still awake is that nap I took yesterday.

"Then, I'll let you go. I just want to thank you again before you do, I know you didn't have to include us in your raid. And, you most certainly didn't have to turn over ninety percent of the gold, silver, and iron. Larendath is far from poor, but this will let us run an extended war if need be, and not worry about lost trade revenue. So, I and all of Larendath thank you."

"It's just metal; I can always take a trip into the teeth if I really need more of it." I downplay what I did. "This was just convenient, and a good way to strike back for what they tried at Riverton."

"If you say so." She says with a lilt to her voice. "Alright, go to your wives, and dream good dreams." With that said, she disconnects.

I do as she commands and climb into bed, sandwiching Apricot between me and Amelia, just how she likes. The dreams were good, mostly about the three of us swimming around in a giant pool of gold coins à la Scrooge McDuck.

The call of nature pulls me from bed a bit after noon. I don't think I can sleep anymore, but the girls are still out cold. So, I just leave them be, and get started silently minting over five million coins.

Apricot wakes first, and shrinks down to slip out of bed without disturbing Amelia. She ignores the gold and silver and flies over to land on my knee. I Ensmallen myself and join her.

"Morning beautiful." I pull her in for a kiss.

"How long have you been up for?" She pulls me down to sit with her before retrieving a snack from her inventory.

"Oh, about ninety minutes." The coins didn't take long, even with me keeping the magic 'quiet'. "I got up to pee, and then decided to read through the books on the desert. Too bad there are none, every book about Varecia mentions it, but they're all the same. 'Unknown phenomena' this, 'might be connected to the circular gulf' that. Apparently no magical researchers are crazy enough to try researching a place without magic."

"No, that honor belongs solely to you." She laughs at the look of mock indignation I put on my face. "Are you sure you'll be okay in there?" She turns serious, and I can hear a hint of fear in her voice.

I pull her onto my lap so that she's straddling me and look her straight in the eyes." I swear I will be fine. I'm not even going to rely on magic for transport, so even if I get drained and Blackthorne stops working, I'll still be able to get out safely."

"Is that even possible?" She touches the thorn pendant hanging from my neck. "It's connection is purely internal, I can’t even sense it. Though that might just be the Livingwood thing."

"I noticed yesterday that it's affected by distance." I tell her what I found out while making the Gems for the boats, and stripping the mountain bare.

"Well, that kinda sucks." She pouts and gives the necklace a kiss. "It's alright though, a lot of guys have performance issues. It doesn't make you any less of a Mage, even if your staff is a little defective." She keeps a straight face right up until Temmie starts *Ding*ing her head off.

"I'll show you just what my 'staff' can do." She's already on my lap, so I just will our clothes out of the way.

***