Chapter 144 - Armaments

Note : Forgot to say it last chapter, but chapter 148 has been written and added to the queue ! Unfortunately I feel like my chapter quality has degraded a bit, and coupled with the delivery of my new noise canceling earbuds allowing me to FINALLY sleep, I'm probably going to take a bit of a pause. I'll still post the written chapters, but I'm probably not going to add more to the queue for a few days.

Chapter 144

Red Sands Desert, Principality of Rebirth

City of Rebirth

"Greetings, master Koldrin." Said Allya as she shook the hand of the orc that had just entered her office.

"Thank you. My greetings to you as well, lady Allya. I thank you for making the time to meet with me. I know you are rather busy, especially given recent events."

"When my partner in my corporate dominion sends a direct message asking for a meeting on someone else's behalf, it is usually considered wise to do so."

"True, true, but I still appreciate the promptness." Koldrin cleared his throat. "As you may know milady, I am a gunsmith and supervisor of the Omega Consortium." Allya nodded. She'd been briefed on his identity. He'd arrived a few weeks ago, and from what she'd been told, had been quite busy getting the Sakura back into fighting shape. "I was originally sent here after news of the dungeon's mineral wealth and the establishment of foundries reached me. To study the possibility of industrial development."

Allya nodded again. It had taken more time than she'd liked to get the foundries up and running, but the first plume of smokes from the furnaces had begun to rise above the mesas a few days ago. They were working on a air purification system to avoid the more problematic aspects of that kind of industry, but right now that was a low priority. At least they had stockpiled a fair amount of ore, and given the amount being drawn from the dungeon daily, especially thanks to the coal deposit in the relatively new steel steps, they were unlikely to outpace the supply anytime soon.

And alongside these foundries, industry was beginning to flourish. As far as she knew, at least three workshops had been completed, with a dozen more on the way, and she had gotten a proposal from the Sildaris Consortium to open a factory.

"I see. And have you come to a decision regarding that?"

"I had not. Due to the, ah, Republic's aggressiveness, the level of risk involved would have been unacceptable, especially not with our factories in Gorromar so close, at least in relative terms. The reason I am here for however is the…concerning news that I have received, and relayed to my superiors."

"What kind of news?"

The orc sighed.

"That adventurers had extracted dungeon loot in the form of advanced weaponry. Namely muskets."

Allya sighed. She knew that was going to go home to roost. She'd already had to hammer in that it was an exceptional circumstance, because some morons had thought they could replicate it and get rich in a single delve. And the news of musket dungeon loot had spurred a lot of talk around town as well. She poured herself a glass of brandy, and raised an eyebrow at Koldrin, who simply shook his head, declining a drink.

"Muskets are hardly 'advanced weaponry'."

"For you? No. But for this continent? Absolutely. The Republic can barely manage to make arquebuses, and let us not even speak of the pathetic pieces of scrap the Saphire Kingdom calls firearms." Allya noted that he didn't include the Asarian Kingdom's own weaponry, which was actually worse than the Saphire Kingdom's own. "So, given the location of your town, and the overall technology level of the continent, it does qualify as 'advanced'."

"So the dungeon had some advanced weaponry as loot. What about it?"

The orc looked sharply at her, and barked out a laugh, with Allya smiling slightly as she took a sip from her glass of liquor. She was deliberately maneuvering him into stating it out loud, and he knew it.

"Very well. Put simply, that kind of weaponry is the consortium's bread and butter on the continent. We make a lot of the Republic's more advanced firearms, and we are practically the only source of such weaponry in both of the northern kingdoms. If a dungeon was to start disgorging it as loot…it would jeopardize a great deal of our industrial operations, and might be catastrophic for our business here." He made a throwaway gesture. "Oh it hardly threatens the consortium at large, we are the second largest arms producer worldwide after all. But it does present a…challenge."

"Would it truly threaten your operations that much? It is but one dungeon after all."

"A dungeon known already for innovating, and for her stupendous output. The amount of loot coming out is staggering, and I have seen the effect the golem parts that are extracted from her depths are having on the economy with my own eyes. Have you looked at the airfield lately? Half of the crate moving is handled by golems."

"I am aware. It lead to some…accidents." Notably with some drunk adventurers suddenly finding themselves face to face with what they saw as dungeon golems, and lashing out in panic. Given the heavy guard of the rapidly shrinking airfield, now that the docking tower was nearing completion, and the ambient paranoia about possible sabotage…it hadn't ended well.

"Well, then you realize the impact such plentiful and cheap firearms will have. Quite simply, it might cause a full military revolution in the kingdom."

"If the kingdom would have wanted, or been able to, switch to more modern weaponry, it already would have."

"True, but the opposition was mainly by the nobility refusing to have their power upended by industrialization, and stringent import duties. You bypass both."

Allya nodded. And wasn't that making her a lot of friends? Even with just the golems, it was clear she'd royally pissed off the more conservative side of the equation in the kingdom, the nobles who wished to retain the status quo. And that said nothing of the slavers!

She took a sip from her glass.

"I see. So you are worried about such commerce upending your operations. What do you expect me to do about it?"

"I…was made aware that you had regular contact, and some pull with the dungeon core."

Allya slammed her glass onto her desk.

"With all due respect master Koldrin, corporate Dominion or not, I am not going to even attempt to dictate what the dungeon core can and can not distribute as dungeon loot. Not only would the adventurers guild take exception to that." Not that she cared that much about their opinion, as they were starting to be a serious pain in her ass. "But in case you haven't been made aware, Crystal does not take well to surface dwellers attempting to force things onto her. If you do not believe me, I advise you to visit the field of sorrow."

Koldrin swallowed, heavily. The 'field of sorrow' was the nickname given to the place where the dungeon had unleashed her rocket barrage onto the Republic's unsuspecting army. It was fitting, given the process of scooping up the remains to try to resurrect them, and the vast assembly of graves now dotting it.

"I…a good point. Still, my superiors asked me to point it out. We would, of course, make concessions in exchange for your assistance."

Allya leaned back into her seat, and glared at the orc, who shifted uncomfortably. She was becoming more and more aware that her aura of terror had its advantages, and after she'd taken down an entire company of high level mercs with the inquisition at her back, she was at a level where few would argue with her, however temporarily.

So she could tell him to stuff it, and he probably would. But he had a point, damn it! Crystal's loot was wonderful, but it was also liable to get a lot of unwanted attention, and she didn't need more enemies!

But it wasn't like she could afford to antagonize the dungeon. The core clearly valued her advice, and she could make the suggestion, but she doubted it would matter for long, even if Crystal did not take offense. The muskets might have been designed for the dungeon's secret army, but she had little doubt they would make their way into the regular floors. After all, the dungeon's previous army, during the fight with the manticore, had its various new golems worked into the dungeon eventually, when they weren't already present before. Including those incredibly nasty, if suicidal, shoulder fired grenade launchers.

However…

"There is a third solution to this." She said.

"How so milady?" Said the orc, his tone making it clear that while he wasn't grasping at straws, he was very glad to have a solution other than pissing off the two most powerful people in the town.

"Many, if not all, of those muskets were damaged. Furthermore, they came without ammunition. So, instead of trying to restrict the supply…the Consortium could instead build a workshop to repair and refurbish those weapons, as well as an ammunition factory to fuel them. If could fast track the authorizations for you, and even throw in some of the treasury behind it to help."

The orc opened his mouth…and closed it. Allya could clearly see the gears turning in his head as he nodded.

"Yes. Yes yes yes! That would do nicely! Offload most of the production, and maneuver to have it boost our business instead of hampering it. Mmmhhh, we might have to modify our existing production lines to match the dungeon's weaponry, if only to have interchangeability for ammunition, but it should be doable." He smiled at Allya, showing his tusk. "Thank you milady! I feel a bit stupid now, but you have brought a solution that I think my superiors will be most pleased with."

"You can claim it as your own, you know."

"I won't. If nothing else, I am not that business minded, I was sent here for my technical expertise after all. My superiors would never believe me if I told them I came up with it! Besides, it gets my boss to be friendly with you, and gets me a few bonus points with the barony, does it not?"

Allya chuckled. She might actually like the orc.

"It does. Then, I assume this discussion is over?"

"Yes. And it answers the question about the industrial investment too. If the dungeon begins having those muskets as loot in any significant quantity…Risk profile be damned, we will build a mass industrial complex from scratch here if we have to!"

"I am glad to hear it. Although you should beware that Crystal might chose not to have musket golems in her regular dungeon floors."

"If she decides not to, then the problem is solved either way." He shrugged at her questioning gaze. "Yes, we'll lose some money on the surveys and the beginning of the planning for the factories, but that would be relatively minor. And if she does start having them as regular loot…"

"You'll be positioned to ride the wave rather than be drowned by it."

"Precisely." The orc got up, and gave Allya deep bow. "Thank you milady, in my name and that of the Conglomerate. You might have done us a great favor today."

"Don't mention it."

"But I will. If nothing else, we know our friends and we know our foes." There was layers behind that statement, and Allya frowned slightly. The orc hesitated, then smiled, clearly deciding that spilling some beans was worth it. "Master Elkaryos has pulled some strings. Part of the reason he contacted you directly is, I am fairly sure, as part of a repayment of the favors he asked. The Sakura has distinguished itself admirably in battle, and he has requested some further assistance from the Consortium."

"What kind of assistance?"

"Well, originally he had requested more Cherry-class light cruisers. But if this opportunity pans out? Milady, I am sure my superiors would prefer to defend such an investment and prevent the Republic from getting their grubby, corrupt hands on it and short circuiting our business. Under those circumstances, I think my superiors might be able to scrounge up a capital ship."

Allya swallowed, heavily. A capital ship? Of the same tech level as the Sakura?

Even a battlecruiser like that would have been able to give the entire Republic fleet that had previously attacked a run for its money.

"That…would be deeply appreciated."

"I'm sure it would be. Remember baroness, as much as you may seem alone right now, you have allies working to help."

"Yes, thank you."

"My pleasure milady."

Allya nodded and exchanged a few pleasantries before the orc left, and leaned back into her seat as the door closed.

It looked like Elkaryos had been busy. The good kind of busy. Even if he was being secretive.

And given the amount of contacts the master merchant had, she idly wondered what other help she could expect.