Chapter 254 - Secretary

Note : Chapters 256 and 257 have been written and added to the queue !

Chapter 254

Red Sands Desert, Duchy of Sarth

City of Darthar

"She does nothing by half measures, does she?" Mused Elkaryos as he looked at the plumes of smoke.

"No. No she doesn't." Agreed Philia Elcanor. The master merchant and knight-commander were both up on the battlements of the city, watching as Sunrise scrambled to repair their blasted fortress.

And bury their dead mages.

"Notice not many ships returned."

"Including the duke's flagship."

"He'll live. Falmagar is a tough bastard." Philia gave him a sidelong look, and the master merchant shrugged. "I've met the man."

"You've met a lot of people it seems."

"I wouldn't be where I am if I didn't." Which was true, for that matter.

Probably best not to mention that he probably knew the other side as well, if not better, than their majesties. Given his own endeavors' need for raw materials, he'd been exchanging letters with Satina's seneschal right up until the war started.

Actually, he'd continued receiving messages afterwards. The duchess of Sunrise, or more likely her sneaky bastard of a spymaster, was keen on keeping some avenues of communication open.

He'd known better than to answer, and simply handed the mess over to the relevant authorities.

He idly wondered if Philia even knew of the Royal Shadows in the city, their majesties' intelligence operatives and general cut throats. Probably not, but…nowadays, you never knew.

"I suppose that is fair. Still, given the sentiment on anyone that associates with Sunrise, it may be wise to keep that fact close to one's chest, yes?"

"Quite." Agreed the dark elf. "Now, what do you think will happen?"

"If they're stupid? They'll stand there and get pounded into paste by Crystal. If they're not? They'll throw everything they've got at us. Do or die."

"And you believe?"

"If they were stupid, they'd have never pulled off their damned civil war."

"So, we prepare for one last stand?"

"Something like that. Get some rest, master merchant. You'll need it. We all will."

*****

"Getting restless?" Said Pyn as Allya paced back and forth in her office. The elf was sitting on the desk, watching her with a slightly bemused expression.

The barones stopped, looking vaguely sheepish, before sighing.

"Yeah….I guess so. It's just…so damned weird."

"And you're a woman of action."

"Among other things."

"Uh uh." Pyn hopped off her fiancée's desk. "You get used to it. I, for one, am intensely thankful not to have you get into mortal danger on any form of regular basis."

Allya froze, and then hugged her knight as the elf opened her arms.

"I'm sorry, I don't…"

"It's okay. I understand." The elf kissed her fiancée's hair. "But still. You can't blame me for wishing you'd stay here, far from harm."

Allya melted into her fiancée's embrace.

"I guess I'd feel the same if you, uh…"

"Didn't much concern myself with military matters anymore? Someone has to keep the place running while you're off toppling nations dear."

Allya chuckled.

"Speaking of. Trira said she found me a candidate to become my Jurgen."

"Your Jurgen?"

"Er, like a secretary and aide."

"Oh. Vetted them?"

"It's Trira. Of course she vetted them."

"Better see them then. I think you're going to start going mad if you have to keep dealing with that amount of paperwork."

"You're probably right." They disentangled themselves, and Allya pushed a button.

A second later, the door swung open, Valker looking inside the room. The ex-Darthar guardsman had acquired some stress lines since his home city had come under siege, but after Alexandra's little stunt had relaxed considerably.

It was hard to feel true concern when the dungeon core was on your side and kicking every kind of ass there was by the wagonload.

"Yes milady?"

"Could you please let Trira know I'd like to meet her candidate to be my Jur-secretary at her earliest convenience?"

As with the military, when a noble said 'at their earliest convenience' it meant 'right the fuck now, preferably before I even voiced the thought'.

"Of course milady."

The bodyguard closed the door, the soundproofing enchantments snapping back in after a second. Not that they were really needed now. Alexandra had taken their alliance to heart, and reinforced her office's security. Even high technology like the dungeon core's own stealth golems couldn't breach it now.

Also it would turn anyone who tried to attack her here into chunky salsa, but that was another matter entirely, one Allya didn't really like to dwell on.

Who wished to remember that their entire office was now one massive booby trap after all?

She spent only a few minutes waiting, chatting with Pyn. The town was getting along nicely. Much better than anyone would expect out of a place that, until a few months ago, had been entirely surrounded by enemies.

The decision to keep the ramparts on the outer mesas had proven a wise one, as the city was expanding like crazy. And with half of the trade route down, but profits still at records high, traffic had, well, doubled, more or less. Without having to do the whole journey to Darthar, ships could have a much faster turnaround between Rebirth and Erakis, leading both too bloom. Similarly to the trade city however, it was starting to strain the existing infrastructure, though thankfully the docking tower could handle it. For now, at least. New airship docks were being built in preparation for the day that was no longer the case, with the loans underwritten by the principality, in exchange for a slew of concessions, including requisition rights for military use and preferential rates for ships carrying the principality's cargo. Which pretty much meant Alexandra's weapon shipments, but still.

Speaking of, the guild was getting restless. Alexandra wasn't rubbing it in their face, but they'd finally realized that all the hardware being moved towards the Republic wasn't ending up in the branch office and its arsenal. Oromar was trying to obliquely broach the subject, but Allya kept brushing him off.

If he wanted to confront her, he'd have to do it head on. Which was precisely why he was trying to keep it on the low.

Despite his reputation and his best effort, the guild's reputation remained in the gutters. Trira was making sure of that. He had to be suspected he was the target of a covert operation, but appeared to be taking it in stride.

He better be. If he'd accused Trira of anything, or Gods may have mercy, attacked her, the guild's days in Rebirth would be numbered. With Starvak's stunt and the state of war, not to mention her -and Alexandra- being the only hope for the Kingdom, no one would stand against her, and the guild was only now starting to recover from the pressure other nations had placed upon it to ferret out any other hidden archons.

She was still chatting with Pyn about the need for upgrades to the roads, given the increasing amount of wagon traffic and the potential construction of a railway to link the dungeon's entrances with the warehouses to carry the loot from the delves, when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Called out Allya, and the door swung open, revealing Valker again, this time in the company of…

"Camille?" Called out Allya, perplexed. "That's you, right? Sorry, it's been a while."

The young adventurer positively beamed at being remembered. First principle of command: treat your subordinates and subjects as people, not just faceless goons. It was incredible how much loyalty was generated when a commander saw their soldiers as fellow sapients and took the time to acknowledge them as individuals. The same held true about being a noble. Even after all these years, her lessons as a scion of house Aubétoile and training as Knight-Valiant came in handy.

"That's me! I didn't think you'd recognize me!"

"I have the face of everyone who went into that first delve burned into my memory." Especially since the first delve of the assault guild into Alexandra's dungeon had been so pivotal. Everything, including her future, had edged on it. If the dungeon was too hard, or the golem loot gone…she shuddered to think what would have happened. "I hadn't realized the candidate Trira had in mind was an adventurer though."

Allya gave Valker a nod, and the bodyguard retreated, clearly realizing that introductions were superfluous, closing the door behind him.

Usually, a guard would have stayed for a meeting with someone else inside her office, let alone when Pyn was present, but someone vetted by Trira was safe.

Besides which, there wasn't much the bodyguard could do if someone attacked her. Alexandra's surprises would be faster. Much faster.

"Ah, that's because I'm not. Not anymore. After the delve, I quit." Said the young woman, looking a bit embarrassed.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I had…a shock, at the end of it, and I decided I wasn't cut out for this." Allya blinked. There was a story there, she could feel it, but she held her peace. If nothing else, she could ask Alexandra if need be. "Artok kept saying I was too into my books for someone who wasn't a mage anyway." Allya nodded. The leader of the assault guild had complained a bit before the delve had started about it. That was so long ago it was blurry however. Damn, when did a year and a half start feeling like an eternity? "So, since I had a knack with mathematics, and everyone kept talking about trade, I figured I could take my chances and set myself up as an accountant. You know, launch myself as an independent, a trusted third party to make sure no one's cheating anyone else?"

"Right." After all, you needed to trust the other side's numbers to do business, and it was easier all around to have independents do audits and such rather than having to rely on in house personnel, that could, on orders or not, say whatever their bosses wanted said. "Did it go well?"

"Massively so!" Said the young woman, to Allya's evident surprise. Why would she apply for such a position if she was doing well? There wasn't-Oh.

"Ah. So much you're looking for greater heights."

That seemed to put the ex adventurer off balance, but the young woman smiled.

"Quite! I got a lot of contacts, and people know me as someone who's honest and does right by her clients. So I'm looking to become a full on merchant. But, uh…"

"You need licenses, and the nearest office that can issue them is encircled by Sunrise's army."

"Yeah…So I was thinking, that, y'know…"

"In exchange for service, I could look the other way, issue some edicts, bend a few rules." Actually, not bend that many. Rebirth was a frontier principality, trade here was what she said it was. "That won't let you be able to trade with other places though."

"I know. But there's a lot of business in town for someone willing to risk it. And besides, Erakis is part of the principality now, isn't it? I can trade to there too, with your blessings."

Allya nodded. That was true.

"Fair enough. Though, are you sure you'll be able to do both? Be my secretary and have your little trading house?"

"I have partners. One of them is Rapier Industries." Allya's eyebrows rose. Elkaryos? No, Melia, most likely. "And if Melia can keep both of her hats, I figured I could do."

"She does a lot of juggling to manage it."

"I can handle that. Also, my little accounting enterprise is more than me now. So I'll have some backup."

"I see. Well, alright, but on one condition."

Camille froze.

"What condition?" She said, cautiously.

"The principality will have a share in your trade house. And we'll sponsor you before their majesties and the relevant authorities."

The ex-adventurer took in a long, shuddering breath.

What Allya was proposing…would almost certainly guarantee her the licenses once things stopped going sideways, with indecent haste.

But it also meant she'd become Rebirth's de facto trade house. The one underwritten by the baroness and partially controlled by the government.

Allya saw the battle happening behind her eyes. There would be a loss of control, independence, and the principality's enemies would become her own.

But on the other hand, the trading house would be privileged, above all others. That would guarantee the former adventurer wealth, connections beyond belief. Hell, other houses would come to her to get in the baroness' good graces, or seek a partner that could convince her of a certain project's viability.

It wasn't a long internal debate. Allya hadn't expected it to be.

"Deal." Simply said the new secretary, and the baroness smiled.

"Good! Then let's get you up to speed."