[[Quite some time back, Kiefer’s POV]]

Man… it’s been almost a week since I’ve returned. Rashael and Alwin seem to be handling things within the city just fine. I’m turning into a useless member of the society, just laying here on my roof and watching the sky and clouds.

I’ve been putting it off for quite some time but I might as well get to it since there is nothing better to do. I highly doubt I will need it again until I fight Gondor, but it’s better to be prepared. Let’s see here…

Wah… I was really eaten in half by that dragon. To be able to heal me completely even from that state… As usual, Rashael is quite impressive, not that I’ll ever admit it out loud. My mithril skin is completely ripped at the waist. My armour is missing from waist down too. What the… is this Drigor’s bite mark? He really took a bite out of me like an apple didn’t he?

I might as well scrap these, make new one from scratch, maybe tweak the properties a little. First, let me remove the moon crystal from the chest. Don’t want it being damaged when I melt the metal. Next up, making a furnace.

[2 hours later]

Finally done. All back to these ingots. I wonder how much the mana conversion is affected when I mix in moon dust with the mithril. I guess there is only one way to find out. Let’s start with this then, firstly, a negative control made of 1kg of pure mithril, then I’ll create similar 1kg mithril plates with increasing weight of moon dust. I’ve got enough to make a little over 30 plates, so maybe I’ll set the increment at 25g.

Arghh… I really need a timer of sorts. I guess I’ll just make do with an improvised one. I’ll just place a set of portal runes above each other and drop an orihalcom ball down. I’ll use that as a fixed measurement of time, counting how many times the ball drops from the top portal to the bottom.

This Spartan laser, ooops its titan laser now, should do the trick. I’ll fire the titan laser at the plates and see how it goes. I’ll start with the one with 800g moon dust. Checking the timer ball, in 3… 2… 1… Fire!

Well that’s a dud. The laser basically melted the plate from the heat instantly. It could not even withstand the attack long enough to store the mana. Maybe I’ll skip the plates from 500g onwards, see how it goes.

[A few hours later]

Right. So plates with 650g moon dust and above get destroyed instantly. They start taking damage once the moon dust hits 550g. The charging rate should be the same in all the plates since I used equal amounts of mithril. The mithril plate with 500g of moon dust took the longest to become completely black, and there was no visible damage from the titan laser.

I guess there is one last test to do. I need to see how fast the plates can convert mana. I’ll start with a plate with 33% moon dust, no wait let’s make it 35%, which is basically the best contender from the previous test, decrease the percentage by 2.5% per plate. First I gotta recycle the failures.

[Another few hours later]

Well that settles it. Holy fuck it’s gotten late. I didn’t even notice Sana and Sher returning and going to bed. It would be best to make my new armour out of 27.5% moon dust then. Any higher and the charging rate becomes too slow, any lower gives me insufficient storage capacity. Seeing as I’m already at it, I might as well recycle all these experimental plates and start working on my new armour. I have to make my pure mithril skin first though.

[[End of Kiefer's POV]]

[[Present time]]

“Dad! Uncle!! Help me! This man just attacked me out of nowhere and kept me prisoner!” The noble man yelled from within the orihalcom cage.

“Kiefer! What are you doing!? Release my nephew at once!” Reyzwald exclaimed, still unsure of the sudden development that was unveiling before his eyes. His guest had a look of horror and fear in his eye.

Kiefer ignored the king’s request, instead, taking the contract out of his breast pocket and showing it to the king. “Arthur. We signed this contract yesterday did we not?” Kiefer asked while using his mana threads to gag his prisoner.

“Ye- yes, but what has that got to do with my nephew? Just release him and we can discuss things.” Reyzwald pleaded, though with his tone, it sounded more like an order.

“There you have it. Proof, like you wanted, that this contract is legit.” Kiefer turned to his prisoner, ignoring Reyzwald. He watched the nephew’s eyes widen, struggling to remove the gag by clawing at it with his hands. Kiefer then turned to the Reyzwald and continued, “It has everything to do with this slimeball. That’s all I need from you, so until next time.” Kiefer bowed slightly and prepared to leave with his prisoner.

“The King ordered you to release him! LET GO OF MY SON!” The guest yelled, chasing after Kiefer who was already walking towards the door, the prison floating behind him. Receiving no response from his son’s Captor whatsoever, the king’s brother began chanting a spell, firing numerous earth spikes that embedded themselves in the door, nailing the doors shut.

With the most convenient escape route being cut off, Kiefer turned around to face the man. On closer observation, the man was wearing a mild green mantle with 2 red stripes outlining the edge of the hood and down the middle slit. The material seemed lustrous, almost comparable to the seraplor mantle the Kiefer owned. It had a series of knots along one side of the robe that here hooked by small cloth hoops on the other side, keeping both sides of the mantle firmly secured to each other.

“I am Gale Reyzwald, the royal Archmage of Alluviate! My brother, the King, just ordered you to release my son! Do it now or be prepared to face my wrath!” The man monologue, glaring at Kiefer so hard it could almost bored 2 holes through him.

“What do you want, GALE? Are you trying to interfere with the persecution of a criminal of Mutatis?” Kiefer asked, unafraid and unimpressed by the mage’s display.

“Criminal!? What did my nephew do? Please, Kiefer, can’t we just talk this over?” Arthur asked, briskly walking from his throne to where his brother was standing.

“My associates trailed a few bandits and they were led to a slave house, run by none other than your nephew here.” Kiefer explained, setting the cage back down onto the ground.

“That’s not true! Father believe me! He just attacked me while I was on my hunting trip with my guards! He’s the real bandit! He killed off my guards and looted my carriage!” The young man argued, not making any sense in his reasoning.

Kiefer could not be bothered to offer his side of his story since it will simply be his word against the crook’s. “I am bringing him back to Mutatis to deal with him according to the laws of my city. Now if you will excuse me.” He explained, not wanting to keep going at this pointless discussion any longer.

Gale did not look pleased, immediately chanting an intermediate fire spell, summoning a wall of fire that encircled Kiefer. The spell torched the surrounding drapes and carpet, sending an unbearable heat blast outwards as it continued to swirl mercilessly around its target. Arthur used his forearm to shield his face, bending his body back a little as the flaming tornado blew cinders and hot wind in his direction.

As the spell died down, leaving a black charred circle on the stone floor and burning drapes on nearby pillars, the 3 men of the Reyzwald family opened their squinted eyes slowly to look at the aftermath. In the middle of the chaos, was a man in a completely black armour, with a large shimmering blue gem embedded in his chest.

The armour had red details that caressed the edges of each piece. The red lines formed a sinister smile on the matte black helmet, extending to form 2 red slanted trapezoid slits that represented the eyes. Along the sides of the helmet were horns that grew towards the back, making a downward U-turn and pointing forwards, the tips curving upwards a little. Only one thought came to the minds of the 3 men standing in horror – A demon.

In an instant, the demon disappeared, and reappeared behind Gale, wrapping his black gauntlets around the back of Gale’s neck and forcing him down into a kneel with such force that it shattered his kneecaps. As Gale screamed in agony, trying to pry apart the vice like grip around his neck, Kiefer tightened his grip, choking the voice out of Gale.

Removing his helmet with his other free hand, Kiefer faced Arthur, and spoke. He spoke the words that every ruler had hoped not to hear. “I take that attack as a sign of aggression. Since I’m the ambassador of Mutatis, by attacking me, you have started a conflict with Mutatis. Prepare your troops, King. Not for war but for evacuation because Mutatis will come in full force, and she will turn Alluviate into a barren land. Blame your rash brother and the waste-of-a-life-nephew. Had they been rational and civilised, this would not have happened. I will give you 20 days to completely evacuate the city. That’s about as long as any of the slaves in his slave house would have lived anyway given the state they were in. Where you go is of no concern to me, but I will not be merciful should we cross paths.”

With that, Kiefer put on his helmet once more, summoning a singularity above the palace. The singularity tore the roof off the grand hall, consuming it before disappearing as per Kiefer’s will. Kiefer released the petrified noble man from his prison and stashed the orihalcom away in his PD, before taking off into the skies and disappearing.

Within a few hours, Kiefer had returned to the merchant guild in Mutatis, still dressed in his new intimidating armour. Alwin and the guards were on guard at first, but heaved a tremendous sigh of relief when Kiefer removed his helmet.

“Seeing as you have your armour on, I’m afraid to ask, but how did the negotiation for the Alluvian plains go? And what happened to the slave house leader we captured? My guards reported you transporting him away in a cage.” Alwin asked, watching Kiefer store the armour away in his PD.

“Good. It went better than I expected. There were some minor hiccups but I managed to not just negotiate for the plains, but pretty much any piece of land we wanted.” Kiefer replied, smiling wickedly.

“Really!? How did you do that? Did you threaten them?” Alwin asked, hoping that Kiefer had not taken a drastic route.

“Well, sort of. But there was no helping it. I had to do this in order for Mutatis to grow beyond what it could achieve in this little port. We are at war with Alluviate now by the way. That’s how I did it. Once I remodel that tiny little city into a bare ground, their lands will be ours for the taking.” Kiefer answered, dropping a bomb on Alwin.

“What!!!??! I just told you specifically that war was the last thing we wanted! Right before you left!!! We have to send another messenger straight away! We need to settle this diplomatically!” Alwin panicked, quickly retrieving a quill and parchment, scribbling an apology letter hurriedly.

“No need for that.” Kiefer said, yanking the parchment out from under Alwin’s quill. “I’ve given them 20 days to evacuate the entire city, and shown them a little of what I can do. If my calculations are correct, it will be them who will be sending a messenger over to talk things through. By then, we will be able to make any demands we want in exchange for me not levelling their city to the ground. Just be patient for a few days. You will see.”

Alwin slumped back into his chair, still not believing the sudden turn of events. He knew Kiefer wanted this city to thrive and expand, but he did not know to what extent Kiefer would go for the future of Mutatis. Silently, he feared the day that Kiefer would turn up at his office and suddenly declare his desire for world domination.

True to his words, a carriage from Alluviate entered the city of Mutatis a few days later. Anyone could tell at first glance that it belonged to someone important. The carriage itself was pulled by 4 Tarsuses, with an entire platoon of guards and magus accompanying the single carriage.

Sliding the cloth curtain inside the carriage aside, the man within looked outside to take a good look at the new city of Mutatis. Showing the city guards an emblem and a royal decree, the city guards immediately sent a messenger to the merchant guild building while ushering the convoy in.

Word arrived at Alwin’s ear soon enough, as he hurried to tidy the place up to receive Alluviate’s King and Queen. Having sensed their arrival, Kiefer picked up Isana, Sher and Feir and brought them to the guild building to await the arrival of the royal family. Within minutes of arrival, the carriage pulled up in front of the building and the doors swung open. The guards lined up in 2 rows on each side of the walkway as the driver opened the carriage doors for King Arthur and Queen Aria.

Mayor Alwin’s secretary walked forwards to receive the royal couple while Kiefer and the Titans just stood by the far end of the lounge, next to the long marble table. The maids brought out warm tea just as greetings ended and everybody was seated.

“To start things off, I would love to formally welcome you to the temporary capital building of Mutatis. My name is Alwin Kreias. I am the current acting mayor of this city. I believe you have already been acquainted with Kiefer, the honorary founding member of Mutatis.” Alwin started, gesturing to Kiefer.

Isana followed up, standing from her seat and introducing herself. “It’s a pleasure to meet you King and Queen of Alluviate. I am Elder Titan Isana, wife of Kiefer. This here is Shearwood and Feir. They are also both titans.”

“Hello King and Queen. I thank you for the sacrifice you sent to my lake last year. The boy’s mana was especially rich. The guards and mages were quite delectable too.” Sher spoke up, licking her lips.

Arthur and Aria simply stared in silence at the group gathered before them. They had been warned beforehand by scouts that Mutatis was a city run by high elves, a race long thought to be extinct. Then they come here half believing the reports only to be made certain that the reports were indeed true. Furthermore, the council they were supposed to be holding war negotiations with was comprised of a group of fearful individuals, regardless of whether they really are who they say they are.

There was an awkward silence at the table after Sher spoke, the pressure so great it seemed like it would crush everyone. The atmosphere was heavy and ominous, with the aura being put out by the group of supposed titans overwhelming not only the royal couple, but the guards as well. Finally, Arthur mustered up the courage to speak, standing up firmly and looking Kiefer in the eye. “Can we discuss the current relationship between our 2 cities? Especially the issue with the war?”

Quite a few time skips here in this chapter, hope it doesn't annoy the crap out of you. enjoy.