Greed God chapter 115

February 20th 2016 Gemworld 6:00 PM EDT

The  amount of people who had shown up over the next six days was actually  pretty staggering. No more peak G rankers to be had sadly, so I didn't  get that ten thousand point boost, but I'd managed to convert about a  hundred of them or so, and they'd all hit G rank, pumping me back up the  hundred thousand plus I'd spent on the city and getting me firmly back  up to two hundred and fifty thousand. I'd have gotten more of them done,  but the more often I used the chalice the longer it seemed to take to  recharge. I suspected it was still recovering from the blitz to elevate  all the bandits.

Still, two hundred and fifty thousand was  enough for my upgrade to E rank and then some, so I wasn't worried  about it. I watched my newest G ranked gemsworn rise and leave the study  with a sigh of relief. After Levka we didn't really need to do a  ceremony, and I preferred to avoid everyone seeing me bleed all the damn  time so I had taken to summoning the villagers. I converted them in  order that they showed up, since seniority was a decent measuring stick  to use to keep the others from bitching about having to wait. Once the  most recent one was done and I hit two hundred fifty thousand I slipped  the cup into my pouch and leaned back with a groan.

Barbie,  who was in the room waiting for me to finish, grinned at me saucily.  "Well, you certainly seem tired for a guy who hasn't left that chair  more than a few times in almost a week. You losing that amazing stamina  Nicky?" Despite adoring me, Barbie relished opportunities to snipe at me  a bit to get back at me for dumping the running of the entire village  on her. She still did her best to make it run smoothly, but bitching a  little made her feel like she was valued, so I didn't take it  personally.

I did, however, snipe back. I held up my  middle finger. "Bite me. I've been a constantly blasting blood faucet  for days. Even my legendary stamina was bound to be a bit taxed by  playing waterfall for nearly a week straight. Still, I've gotten a huge  chunk of the new villagers done, between them and the bandits there's  nearly a quarter of a thousand bound Barons in this city. This won't be  the end of it either. Word will get out about all this and even more  will come to see what I can do for them."

She nodded, but  the teasing expression was gone, replaced by worry. "That's true,  but...I'm not sure we have that much time. There's no way we haven't  caught Emerald's attention at this point. Malcolm says they've been  trying to contact him but he's been dodging their sendings, but that  isn't sustainable. If we're still vulnerable when they show up we could  just get steamrolled by one of their Earls. As much as I enjoy our  growth at the moment, I feel like we have enough of an infrastructure to  sustain the village without you. You need to head for Amethyst soon."

I  grimaced. She was right. I'd put this off for too long, mostly because I  wanted to find something good for my ascension, but despite having a  few ideas, I couldn't drag this out any longer. I needed to leave.  Still, I had to raise an eyebrow. "You sure you aren't just trying to  rush us home? I know how worried you've been lately. Did that call to  your dad stir up your homesickness?" I'd let her use the phone after the  ambient charge from me had refilled it a few days ago, and she'd been  jittery ever since.

That got me a frown. "Of course I want  us to go home, but given that Doctor Gotham has rebuffed every attempt  from Doctor Fate to get into the city, whatever it is you're planning is  going to be our only chance. Still, I do want to move things along, and  getting to Amethyst is the first step on our return trip, isn't it?"  I'd explained enough to her to get her to shut up about going back, and  between that and lots of brain frying sex and keeping busy she'd barely  had time to worry about Gotham. Sadly after that call she was doubling  down on the subject, and I was getting annoyed.

Still, she  was right. It was time to head for Amethyst. I'd need to stop and rank  up, an Earl was pretty much the lowest level of nobility that people  considered to be worth anything in one of the dynasties. Being a  Viscount made me real nobility, but still the lowest level of real  nobility. Another step up the ladder would help me be taken seriously  when I petitioned for a meeting with the Amethyst royal family. I didn't  know the political situation over there either, so better safe than  sorry.

I'd tried asking Malcolm, but the dynasties were  pretty insular. Any attempts to get information between domains was  considered espionage, and it was risky as hell. Malcolm had never really  needed to spy on Amethyst territory, so his grasp on their political  situation was basically nonexistent. I had to go see for myself, and I'd  set up the village to function without me, but I needed to check on a  few things still. "How is Sally doing with the guard battalion? She and  Waylon having any trouble training them?"

Barbie smirked  at that. "Please. I've been studying troop formations and ancient  training tactics for years as part of my training. I gave her a full  regimen for raising a roman legion. A monkey could get them to work  together with a bit of motivation, and Sally is more than up to that,  especially with Waylon looming over them like a massive scaly death god.  They saw his transformation during training a few days ago, we haven't  had any slackers since then."

I wouldn't fucking slack off  with Waylon looming over me either. Well, no, I absolutely would if I  felt like it, but Waylon was one of mine, so I had that right. Anyone  else would be an absolute moron to fuck with someone like Waylon. I  didn't know if any of the bloodlines in Gemworld were physically based,  but Waylon was an F ranker from pure physical might, same as Sally. I  imagined some durability was mixed in there too, though honestly I  hadn't really studied the barriers between the ranks as they related to  different attributes.

I knew there were different  attributes though. My Vitality made me F rank, but I didn't have as much  raw strength as say, Sally, so clearly there were a variety of factors.  Still, Waylon's terror croc transformation was bound to inspire  obedience for him and his woman, especially considering their reaction  to my transformation. A terror croc wasn't a dragon, but a big fuck off  lizard beast was closer than my dragonkin like form probably, and even  if not, you'd have to be an idiot to fuck with it.

Regardless,  that was all well and good. The guard training was going well, and with  everyone around here I doubted we would run into a problem when I took  my trip. I'd had about enough with people messing with my shit thank you  very much, so I wanted Lord Town protected while I was gone. I'd put a  lot of work into this place. "So how is Levka getting used to his new  abilities?" I'd used the chalice on his wife next, deciding some Gilf  pussy wasn't worth rocking the boat right now, and she had started  deaging after, though apparently it was taking a while. Regardless that  should be enough to keep him happy and productive, and he could make the  armor for the guards and save me some points.

Barbie just  snorted. "He's mostly been either eating way too much or fucking his  wife. Hildie has been ecstatic at seeing how affectionate they are.  She's expecting a little brother or sister. Levka did eventually get  suspicious about her new job, but I think he's afraid to kill the golden  goose. He mostly just grimaced and told her to take good care of us.  The approval made her much more...enthusiastic. He's gotten into the  forge in the last few days though, at least for a bit, and he's  apparently enjoying himself. I have no clue how smithing magic works but  apparently however it works it does it better now."

Not  unexpected. There wouldn't have been as much of a point in elevating him  if not. I wasn't shocked he wasn't more upset about Hildie. Aside from  this world being kind of medieval, it was also an unspoken check on his  new influence. A reminder that he might be strong and influential now,  but he and everyone he cared about belonged to me. People in a caste  system chafed a bit less at reminders like that. He knew as long as he  did what he was told I'd treat him well because I needed him, fucking  his daughter was just an overt reminder of the influence I had over his  life.

Still, since he was up and running now I figured I  should pass him a bit of work. "Let him know to get started on a design  for a suit of armor for the guards. He can run it by Sally to make sure  it's up to par. Tell him to identify the materials that would work best  and get me a list for when I get back. I doubt we have any sort of  consistent stockpiles that would be enough, but I'm happy enough to put  some things together for him to use when I return from getting in touch  with the Amethyst domain."

Theoretically  that would be about as expensive as creating the armor, but in practice  I had multiple ways to get around that. Merging some powerful magical  substance into a vein of ore or something would produce a deposit of  magical material that we could use to make armor and weapons. It would  also keep the major industry of the town (and since our smith was such a  big deal now, smithed goods WOULD be a major industry for Lord Town)  completely in my hands, since I would be the sole provider of supplies.  Not that it mattered since I had him under my complete control if  needed, but a bit of insurance never hurt.

Barbie  nodded, writing down the order without any hesitation, and once she was  done she stood up to leave. Before she did though, she leaned down and  kissed me softly. "Just...be careful, ok? I realize you're more than up  to taking care of yourself, but this is a dangerous world. Be careful."  She bit her lip, looking away with a blush. "We would be really upset if  something happened to you daddy." I knew she was serious about this,  because she never called me that outside of sex.

I  didn't actually know how to respond to that. Faking responses to things  like emotional outbursts was easy, but Barbie was mine, and I actually  kind of liked her. Hearing her express concern for me like that  was...odd. Not in a bad way though. I reached up and pulled her down  into my lap, kissing her soundly for a few minutes before I finally let  her go to talk to Levka. She was a bit dazed, but she gave me a beaming  smile as she left. It looked good on her.

As  she left, I stood up and walked over to pull down a cloak Zee had  enchanted for me to help hide my magical signature from prying spells  and then headed to the door, slipping out. I sought out and said my  goodbyes to the girls, giving them each their own tasks, as well as  passing a few orders to Sally and Waylon on what to do in case of  emergency, before walking out of town in the direction of the border. I  was heading into Amatheyst territory, and soon enough I'd be meeting  with a princess I needed to seduce. Before that though, I had a stop to  make nearby. It was time to hit E rank.