[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 174 – The Black Sheep II

Sam stared at the sobbing demon, utterly out of his depth. “Uh… mind running that past me? Why would that be a bad thing?”

Bal’daz looked up, his black eyes more red-rimmed than usual. “I can’t help it! It was what I was born to do, but would my brothers and sisters listen? No! They didn’t even try to help me. Do you know what it’s like being around you mortals? There’s so much temptation. You have blueprints!”

Sam didn’t like the way he said the word. It sounded a bit unsettling, almost dirty, like he was talking about some serious kink.

“Is okay, Machi is here!” Komachi gave her tea another loud slurp, then pounced on Bal’daz and hugged him. It was an odd thing to see a cat do.

Bal’daz looked down questioningly at her. “You don’t think I’m a filthy creep?”

Komachi noticeably paused. “Uh…”

“Back it up a little,” Sam told him. “I’m guessing we’re having a cultural disconnect here. Am I right that demons hate building anything and instead, say, prefer to tear and demolish everything around them?”

“That is the natural way of things,” Bal’daz said, giving Sam an odd look, like he had just said the sky is blue and water is wet.

“Doesn’t sound very nachi,” his cat said, then muttered quietly, “Nachi-machi.”

“In Grish’nal I am a freak of nature. I cannot control it. I try, I really do. But sometimes I sneak to mortal worlds and watch them erecting things.” He gave a little shudder of pleasure. “Laying bricks in organized rows! Building one level at a time, the past holding up the future! It’s glorious.”

Sam felt increasingly uncomfortable. “Hoookay, well… That’s not the case at all here. Building is not a fetish. It’s incredibly useful, in a very non-sexual way, alright?”

“There is nothing sexual about buildings!” Bal’daz said. “They are pristine and unsullied things. I will not sexualize a building.”

“Even Machi can tell you got a thing for buildings.” She leapt off, contently going back to messily drinking tea.

Sam wanted to press further, but figured it wouldn’t be worth it. He didn’t want to scare the guy off, especially when he seemed skittish as it was.

“Let me get this straight. Demons basically have our values backwards. They want to destroy and raze everything, never building anything, right? And you’re different because you want to build things, like you really want to build things. But you think you’re sick for doing so.”

Bal’daz took a sip of his tea, carefully not meeting his eyes. “Yes, that is about the gist of it, I would say. I… are you absolutely sure that building is not looked down upon here? This realm is very different from the one I lived in. Not all mortal realms honor builders, I am told despite how much you lot build things. Some toil away without food or water in the beating sun and are paid a pittance as if their work is meaningless!”

Sam shook his head. “Perhaps in other places.” Like Earth, Sam thought, seeing the various road and construction crews sweating in the beating sun. “But this is my Skyshard, and builders would not only be welcome, but celebrated.”

“Yis, you’d fit in real well,” Komachi admitted. “You’d probably earn some sweet, sweet Raiko points.”

That caught Sam’s attention. He immediately wanted those. He wanted all the points. Every type. It was a hunger.

Then realized, with no small amount of chagrin, that Raiko points probably weren’t real.

Good thing Komachi can’t read my mind, he thought. But by the way she was watching him, he suddenly wasn’t so sure.

“Do you, perhaps, maybe, need a Builder?” Bal’daz ventured like a man stepping out onto thin ice. “I may not be very high level, but my Profession is Builder.” When Sam didn’t seem to make any further enquiries, he added rather quickly, “My Path is also that of a Researcher, and though my combat prowess is fairly weak I do have the Wizard Job. I could be very useful if you were to let me build things.”

“Stop… stop saying it like that,” Sam told him, trying hard not to cringe.

Komachi, however, absolutely cringed. Her whole little face scrunched up.

“Build,” Bal’daz said. “Build. Build, build, build.” By the third or fourth utterance, he had managed to sound mostly normal, but it was still a little like he was caressing the word. “I do not normally get to say the word aloud without being beaten. It is a pleasure that such things are normal here.”

Sam cradled the teacup in his palm. “We could use your talents if you’d like to join us officially, Bal’daz. There is room in the settlement for you, though I don’t know how you’d move the tower. I suppose we could extend the palisades over time to include this area.”

“Sorry your life has been so rough, Mister Demon,” Komachi said. “But you’re welcome with us. Nobody beats each other or… anything horrible in Kingdom Sil’mara. Raiko is quite spicy at times, but she’s nice. So are Lenal, Matt and Kai. Chompers is real friendly, too.”

The demon looked from Sam to Komachi, then back at Sam. The look of wary hope in his eyes was soul crushing.

“I have your word this is not a trap?” he asked.

Princess Komachi extends an invitation to join the Kingdom of Sil’mara to Bal’daz. Do you wish to allow this?

Sam stared at the notification, then at the smug look on Komachi’s face. Huh, he thought, I guess I did call her a Princess at some point. Didn’t think it’d be taken so literally.

Sam gave his blessing and watched as Bal’daz’s eyes went even wider. Sam felt a faint string of fate connect between himself and Bal’daz.

Interesting, Sam thought, looking at the rapidly fading string.

Skyshard Milestones Accomplished:

Welcome a demon citizen into your Kingdom (Rare)

Gather 6 unique Professions in your Kingdom (Uncommon)

Conquer 100% of your Skyshard’s surface territory (Uncommon)

Your Skyshard gains greater Experience!

Your Skyshard Levels Up!

“I can move the tower,” Bal’daz said. And Sam sensed that he was telling the truth. In fact, now that Bal’daz was a citizen of Sil’mara, he realized that he could move the tower himself. Not that Sam wanted to, but it was interesting to know that he now owned all of the Skyshard.

I suppose by letting Bal’daz stay without asking him to join us, it was technically giving him the freedom to claim his own spot of land.

Sam reminded himself to be more mindful of such things in the future. That would be one of the ways that somebody like Darren would have used to sink his claws into him.

Granted, Sam could always kill the person. There was that.

“Well, if you’re okay with it, we’d like you to join the settlement proper. We have some walls set up—”

Bal’daz got that sweaty look again. “Yes. I watched.”

Komachi made a disgruntled sound.

“We talked about this, Bal’daz.”

The demon cleared his throat with some difficulty. “Yes… yes, I am sorry. I don’t mean to be… weird. It is hard, however. These things are—were—remarkably taboo in my culture.”

“It’s not here,” Sam reminded him.

“Lenal is a little awkward too,” Komachi added. “You two might get along well.”

“I would like to meet everybody. Properly this time. I will pack up the tower. It’ll only take an hour or so if you don’t mind waiting?”

There was a nervous edge to his voice that suggested if Sam didn’t wait, he might just disappear and his dreams of building with him.

Sam smiled and nodded. “I’d like to stay and see what you might need for your Profession, actually if you don’t mind.”

“Will you make more tea later?” Komachi asked hopefully, then remembered some manners. “Please.”

“I will,” Bal’daz promised Komachi. He looked up at Sam. “I would appreciate the company, in all honesty. Any questions you have, will gladly answer if it is in my ability to do so.”

Sam drained the rest of his tea and stood up. “Lead the way. We’ll talk as you work.”

Bal’daz motioned them toward the door, gingerly stepping over the piles of demon ash. He led them outside the tower, where he started casting a rather complicated spell.

Geometric designs unfurled in a fractal pattern that began to spin counterclockwise and pulse with faint purple light.

Sam wasn’t entirely sure how to begin, so he went the straightforward and honest route. It always worked before, and it had the added benefit of not needing to remember anything that wasn’t absolutely true.

“While we’ve managed to stall the advances of the Black City, we’re working on our newly gained Professions,” Sam explained, scooping Komachi up and setting her on his shoulder. “It’s not like there are item shops around here or vendors to sell things to, so for the time being we’re trying to be as self-sufficient as possible.

“To that end, we’ll need materials, goods, armors, weapons, the whole lot. This is a fledgling kingdom after all, and we need everything to not only build it up from scratch, but to keep it going for years after.”

Bal’daz’s spell began to flicker as his concentration wavered. He turned back to the magic and began weaving faster, his fingers flashing complex signs.

“He’s gettin’ dat sweaty look again,” Komachi whispered to Sam.

“You wish… to create a-a kingdom that will stand for centuries? Millenia, perhaps?” Bal’daz asked, his voice quaking with hunger and need.

Why does he make it sound like I’m proposing something incredibly kinky? Sam thought to himself. I feel like I need a shower after talking about this stuff to him. Admittedly, I probably need a shower, anyway. Blacksmithing is hard work.

He knew it wasn’t very fair. Their cultures were entirely different, but godsdamn it was creepy.

“Longer, if possible,” Sam told him. “But that’s not what’s important right now—”

“I would dare to disagree!” Bal’daz snapped without heat. “Laying the groundwork is incredibly important. If you wish for a fast but temporary shelter, that is a very different series of steps compared to something you would like to stand the test of time. To spit in the eye of the Father Time himself!”

Sam had to agree on that account. “Fair enough. I see your point. To answer your question, yes, that is what we want. I’d rather have a towering wall of stone than one of wood, and with the Aker Academy orbiting above us, anybody looking at our Skyshard isn’t going to be fooled for long that we’re uninhabited. I’d rather be ready for them than to keep hiding.”

It had been a good idea, but with the addition of the Academy’s Skyshard, the original plan was nearly useless. The only thing it would do would be to make people think that the Academy was where the people were rather than that forested hideout.

At least it was still useful for hiding from flying predators.

Sam had heard them in the night, calling and squawking high above their heads, but they couldn’t dive through the dense canopy of the ironwoods.

The few that tried learned very quickly why they were called ironwoods.

It was interesting the way the Builder shrugged off the threat of the Black City, yet tunneled hard on their designs for making a kingdom.

“We will need stone, and lots of it,” Bal’daz said absently while he worked his magic. “I can [Build] plenty of things, but the raw materials are beyond me. I need vast quantities of them, and the better types of materials you provide, the better buildings I can make with superior buffs.”

“You can’t gather stone?” Komachi asked curiously.

Bal’daz looked over his shoulder at her. “I am a Builder, not a… a… stone gatherer.”

“Yah, I dunno what that would be either.”

“Don’t ask me,” Sam said to the looks at him. “But we can get you stone. Does it need to be in any sort of finished state?”

I’m going to end up needing [Stonemason] aren’t I? he thought to himself.

“Ideally,” Bal’daz told him. “The better the materials, the better the building, yes?”

“What if, instead of stone, it was metal?” Komachi asked.

Bal’daz looked at Sam, then Komachi greedily. “You have metal?” he asked, as if it was some rare and ultra valuable thing.

Sam grinned and explained about the stores they had that he was grinding through.

The demon listened with rapt attention, and before he was done packing up the tower, he had a list of materials that Sam could make for him.