Chapter 23 - Caravan

Edit note : This chapter has been edited and the functionning of the mana crystals altered to be a consumed power source and not just a 'free' infinite source of mana.

This was one of the elements that bothered me the most about that setting's magic system and economy, which I've remade to solve that problem.

Also, yes, I'm actually coming back to this story out of pure spite (also partially because I want to write about slavers and bandits being brutally annihilated and Alexandra ran out of them to kill in The Fallen World for the time being). Chapter 30 has been written and will be posted later today (8th of march 2025 for anyone reading this later).

Chapter 23

Salran Mountains, Starnor Imperial Border Territories

Frontier town of Kaisersgrenze

Airah whistled as she weighed the pouch full of gold. One of the issues with a commodity currency like this is that you couldn't just have a stack or suitcase of bank notes for large scale transactions, and three thousand gold coins took quite a large space. Not to mention be extremely heavy, although that wasn't really a concern for her.

Well, maybe we should start hunting wargs for a living, said Airah over her mindlink.

Yes, as soon as you figure out a way to fight them without being halfway killed and, you know, relying on a dwarven super door to do the job for us! Retorted the AI, and Airah winced, but didn't answer.

Stellyra, after all, was right.

Airah blinked as several of the townspeople rushed past her, and frowned, before relaxing. They looked like they were running towards something rather than away, and moreover they looked excited, not frightened.

Want to see what this is all about? She asked over the mindlink.

Sure. Maybe some kind of town announcement?

Maybe.

Airah began trotting forward, keeping pace with the townspeople, before emerging on the main square…where several wagons were arranged.

"Oh. It's a caravan." Airah said, before clamping her jaws down, realizing she had spoken aloud.

"Yep, it is." The dragon blinked, and whirled around, finding herself face to face with Martin. "Hello again lady Starfire."

"Hello Martin. Poking your nose out of your shops for once?"

"Hey, I get out plenty. Besides, even I need to replenish my inventory from time to time!"

"Ah, buying books, magical artifacts, that kind of things?"

"Yep. Caravans always carry a collection of odds and ends, from junk to art, passing by relics and tomes of a forgotten age." He sighed as she suddenly looked interested. "Just…try to buy them, not…other methods of acquisition."

"Hey! I'm a perfectly law abiding citizen, not a stars damned raider!"

"Sorry, it's just that your…type is known to resort to more direct measures."

"Right." It was as close as the mage would come to saying she was a dragon in public, but she really had no intention of robbing people. She wa- had been the Empress' Sword damn it! "Well, I'm different."

"I can believe that." He looked at the wagons, and squared his shoulders. "Would you do me the honor of accompanying me milady?" He smiled. "I have a friend I'd like to introduce you to, he's good people, and moreover I think you'll find his usual inventory fascinating!"

"It would be my pleasure!"

Martin smiled, and walked off, Airah in tow. The dragon looked around curiously at the different stalls, before raising an eyebrow as she saw Stellyra's hologram scratching notes down into a good old fashioned notepad.

What are you taking notes for? Asked Airah over their mindlink.

The prices. I'm recording the prices.

Which ones?

All of them. The AI's avatar looked directly at her, still writing furiously. Airah knew it was all fake, but it still felt a bit odd. We have no real idea what anything is worth here. Oh, you have some frame of reference, thanks to your studies, but that frame might be badly wrong. For example, the currency. Have you noticed how many gold coins and such are changing hands? Gold is rare. Very rare. There's no way in hell anyone could extract enough with even industrial revolution tech to maintain that level of availability in a border town. Shit, no one could have until the mass asteroid resource extraction operations of the 23rd century came to be. There's a reason why silver was used most of the time instead, except here it appears to be the opposite!

They could have a nearby gold motherload.

Possibly…but if that was the case exporting that gold would be a major, major industry, like it was in the old Mali Empire. There's no trace, not even a hint of that here, so I find that explanation…unlikely.

Airah mentally nodded.

Good point. I guess I'll have to ask some questions around. But that'll have to wait, as I think we're here. Said Airah as she looked at the garishly painted stall.

The man behind it, who looked so much like a stereotypical merchant it almost hurt to look at him, what with his black cap, ample clothes, and corpulence. He also wore a few obvious jewel, although they all seemed to have been made to compliment his clothes rather than pure ostentation's sake…

And every single one of them was softly glowing.

Enchantments. A lot of enchantments.

"Hello! Ah, Martin, my friend! It is good to see you again. And who might this young lady be?" Exclaimed the merchant as he saw them.

"This is Airah Starfire. Lady Airah Starfire. Lady Starfire, meet Isidoro Fini, an old friend of mine." Said Martin, making the apparently universal back and forth gesture of introduction.

"Please to meet you mister Fini." Airah extended her hand, and blinked in surprise as Isidoro moved with a grace at odd with his corpulence, and delicately kissed her hand.

"Please, call me Isidoro. I am no noble, and have no need to sit on formality. No offense milady."

"None taken. And no need to call me 'lady' either, it is an honorific given to me for…other reasons than noble lineage, one might say."

"Oh? How so?"

"Bandit extermination, for one."

"Ah." The merchant's face became grim. "Unfortunate that you should mention bandits." He looked at Martin. "I am very sorry my friend, but the wagon transporting the mana crystals got taken in an ambush. The guards weren't able to do anything."

Martin winced.

"It's alright, I'll…manage. Although…" He looked at Airah speculatively. "As my friend just said, she does specialize in exterminating bandits. As a matter of fact, she is very good at it."

"Ah, I see. Unfortunately, that might be a bit too much for her. Those bandits looked like trained soldiers, and a single adventurer -you are an adventurer, yes?- would be hard pressed to fight them alone."

"I disagree." Simply said Airah, after nodding as he as he asked for confirmation as to her status.

"I envy your confidence young lady." Said Isidoro. "But to put together a rescue fund, to properly compensate anyone trying to reacquire my rightful property, I need the approval of my guild, and they will not approve it unless they seriously believe it has a chance of working."

"That recitence should melt if I bring back everything and then ask for compensation."

"And while that would be…rather generous, you clearly do not have much experience dealing with guild bureaucrats, much less ones whose feathers have been ruffled, Airah." The merchant smiled. "They would only dig their heels in further, I'm afraid."

Airah blinked, then grimaced. She'd never really experienced bureaucratic incompetence for herself, although she'd read about it, especially in her early journals. Nowadays most paperwork was handled by automated processes, and since she had a tendency to live in the Core World, be they Outer or Inner, the bureaucracy tended to be a smoothly functioning machine, oiled by millenia of continued operations and refinement. And back when she'd been in the military…

Well, no one wanted to piss the 'Empress' Sword' off.

"I suppose not. Still, would they be that petty?"

"Oh yes. Very much so."

Martin tapped his chin pensively, and they both turned to look at him.

"You know…there is a team of adventurers in town. Only passing, mind you, they told me they were here to buy some spatial bags and hitch a ride to the Republic. They might be interested in the job. Especially if they get some…let's call it local help, in the form of someone who's already familiar with their foe and the terrain."

"That…might work. Do you know where they are staying? I'll send a runner out to them."

"They're staying at the Moonlight Inn I believe."

"Excellent!" The merchant turned towards Airah. "I hope you won't mind sharing the reward?"

"Shouldn't be a problem."

"Most excellent! Well, I will send for you once I have made the necessary arrangements. May I assume you'll be in one of Martin's shops?"

"That would probably be a safe assumption, yes."

"Very good then! I suppose I will see you in a few hours then, if everything goes well."

*****

"So, why are those 'mana crystals' so important?" Asked Airah as she walked into Martin's magic shop. "Your friend seemed rather…distressed to have lost them."

Martin sighed as he took a seat behind the counter.

"Mana crystals are a key components of…a great deal many things." He gestured at the bag on her hip. "Your spatial bag for example. They…it's complicated, but in essence they can be melted and mixed with various materials to enhance them, and can be used as a source of mana for enchantments. For example, if you were to add mana crystals while creating a steel alloy, provided you knew what you were doing, you could create manasteel, a metal vastly more resilient, and if an object made out of it was enchanted, the manasteel would store and distribute the mana to power the enchantment as well."

"Ah. So my fire sword, for example, doesn't have that? I noticed that it ate into my mana."

"No, no it does not. Your spatial bag does however, some of the threads holding it together are made of mana crystals, although the process to make it so is rather complicated. Which is partly why the seams are so strong, and it powers the enchantments creating the spatial bubble within the bag."

"I see…so, do you mean it would be possible for me to draw power from mana crystals?"

"Yes, it's the main way people regenerate their reserves. Though I'd recommend doing it carefully. You can overload yourself with the energy or overload the crystal. It's like miscasting a spell, in many ways. Given the fact that casting magic usually takes a toll on your mind and body as well...generally a mage that needs to recharge their mana is an exhausted one. Which is why it's an issue. I'd recommend doing so after getting a good amount of rest, not in the middle of a battle, though there are some tools to facilitate the process."

"That's good to know. But the enchantments don't suffer the same problem?"

"Nope. Well, unless the enchantment is damaged. But anyway, you can see why they're so prized. I do make my own artifacts, you know, as well as conduct some experiments, and although I do not know how to weave mana crystals into threads, or fuse them with metals, I can use the old, brute force approach and simply attach them to whatever I wish powered. It is not ideal, as some mana is lost and the crystal itself does not benefit the toughness of the object, but it works. And, well, it is far cheaper in many ways."

"I see. That is fascinating." And it was. These crystals were materials, fuel and a power source all in one. It reminded her a lot of oil, the 'black gold' of pre-starflight humanity, before fusion power and solar arrays bulldozed everything else aside, at least for power generation.

The fact that she could draw from them was helpful as well. She seemed to be generating her own mana, in very sizeable quantities, but there was no telling when her useage would outstrip her generation.

Furthermore, it seemed like humans maybe had a lower generation than her, if recharging from crystals was such a common occurrence. Maybe they didn't recharge at all. Not a question she'd want to ask right now though, but something to think about.

"It is, isn't it? Say, how have you been doing with your magic studies?"

"Very well. I still only have learned how to use the firebolt spell, but I am confident I will be able to use barrier soon as well."

"Barrier eh? Good spell, excellent defense, albeit with limited uses, what with the concentration requirements."

"Perhaps, but I would like to have the option. Besides, I have been wounded quite a few times. Having something to avoid being shot would be a welcome addition."

"I can imagine. I've always relied on such spells myself, rather than armor and more conventional means. Although I suppose that was more necessary for me than most."

"Oh, how so?"

"Let's just say that I embraced some…unorthodox methods to amplify my magic and leave it at that. So, you said that you hadn't been able to master barrier yet, would you like to talk about it? It has been a while since I had studied that spell, but I hardly ever noted down every single discovery I made in my grimoire, no matter how much my teachers exhorted me to! I'm sure I have a few tidbits left that could prove useful in my old and decrepit brain."

Airah laughed.

" 'Old and decrepit' eh?" He barely looked thirty, while she was over 8 millenia old! "Sure, let's see what you remember!"