Chapter 98 - Unorthodox Suggestion

Author's note: Made edits to chapters 2, 17, 66, 78 and 83. They'll be noted in Chapter 84 on Royalroad and in a comment under this post later today.

...Magelord Isekai...

My visit to Keeper was fruitful.

Fruitful like the fruit were a bunch of grapes I had to gather together to get the bite I’d come for. Was pretty sure Keeper was proud of my analogy with the way it clicked its tongue in laughter when I made the observation.

Instead of a single spell, Keeper suggested a set of three. None of them worked on their own. And in truth, I would actually be using four spells in total.

The first spell, named Flower of Tallow for no reason I could decipher, allowed me to see the pattern of the lock without triggering any of the implosion or explosion traps that were regularly built into storage rings to prevent exactly what I was trying to do. Something I hadn't even known I needed to worry about.

Once I could see the pattern, the next step was to use the second spell Keeper offered me to create a sort of dummy spellkey. One that could be used at a fraction of the strength of my existing spellkey. The spell was simply named Keyring. It was similar to the first Order spell I used to access my storage. Kind of. It was like the difference between a doorkey and having the tools to build a whole new key. All the extra configuration options made it a second Order spell. It was designed as a more sophisticated key for more advanced storage items. And if I read the notes correctly, a lot of much older storage items had far more advanced locks than the ones that had kept the doors closed in Mount Aeternia.

After creating the dummy key with Keyring, I then created a copy of the ring in Memory Palace. This would let me test each configuration without fully understanding what was happening. The tests would teach me more about the mechanisms involved.

It was at this point in Keeper's explanation that I realized that I'd basically have to understand the entire working of tier 1 storage rings to pick them. Which also meant I'd be nine-tenths of the way to making my own.

As tantalizing as that was, I waited for Keeper to finish its explanation of the spells it was offering.

Creating an exact replica of the storage item in question required an upgraded version of the spell, Copy Object. It even had the same name, without so much as a number 2 to differentiate it. Well, not until I added one.

Copy Object 2 was superior to the original in many ways. For one, I didn't have to maintain contact with the original. It also copied the exact runes of any enchanted object of tier 3 or lower. I couldn't use the copied item, simply make a perfect copy of it. The moment mana started flowing through, everything would break apart, like water through the crap single sheet toilet paper my old man used to buy.

"While it hungers, it cannot stomach true meaning," Keeper said, as it finished explaining the spell. "Yet, so long as it does not burst, it will retain the recipe entire, allowing you to draw upon it within your feast hall."

"You mean Memory Palace, right?"

"Yes," Keeper said, its black tongue flicking against the back of its glistening teeth. "For these spells, ten shards worth will be repaid. Do you find yourself satisfied?"

Was tempted to say yes, but as long as I was here…

"How about a manual on construction of Spatial Storage? Any chance you've got one I could use with these to create my own ring?"

"Such morsels can be added for another shard, young omnivore," Keeper said, shifting to one side as the outline of a stack of books glimmered in the air between us. "With this, a balance will we have reached."

"Fair enough," I said, nodding.

A moment later, the books went from transparent images to the real thing.

Keeper handed them over, its eyes flashing as it released them. With the exchange finished, Keeper drew back towards its doorway nook, settling in place with its familiar cracking.

I was excited to get started on scribing my new spells but found Tamrie waiting for me just outside Keeper's room. She was flipping back and forth in her journal when I exited. I noted she’d added another pencil to her attire, stabbed through her hair at an angle to keep a messy bun in place.

"Something come up?" I asked even as I led the way down the stairs.

"Nothing that wasn't able to keep," Tamrie said, glancing back at the door that hid Keeper away. "Still, now that you’re free… Well, ya know that ser Calbern’s been back all day and he's dredged up some folk as to sit round the table with ya."

"Anyone I know?"

"Aye. Xoth'll be there, as will Selvi. She's to serve as your guard captain, near as I understand it, though… ser Calbern mentioned having an 'unorthodox suggestion' in regards to that," Tamrie replied, doing a snipping motion with her right hand as she said unorthodox suggestion. Combined with the way she'd affected something closer to his accent when she'd said it, I suspected it was her way of doing air quotes. She continued as we made our way down through the enchanting workshop, "And I'm not sure if you've met Alister. He's a refugee, but near as I can tell, he's been keeping his feet in the sand."

"Not familiar with him," I said as we passed through the pair of stone doors to the center of the ways between. I got Tamrie to wait as I went over and siphoned off half my mana into the central crystal.

I was about to tell her to continue when the room filled with light for several seconds. It seemed I'd finally hit some minimum threshold as several points on the map popped up with notes on them. They didn't last long enough for me to read them properly. Thankfully, I didn't need them to. Now that I'd seen them, I could use Memory Palace to scour the map.

“That’s a sight, it is,” Tamrie said just before the map faded away. “That’s the whole of Cape Perth, is it?”

“Cape… Perth?” I asked, stopping to look at Tamrie. “We are not calling my domain, Cape Perth.”

“Ye’d best be coming up with a name soon then, else everyone else will beat you to it,” Tamrie said with a shrug. “Either way, that map’ll prove mighty useful.”

“It will,” I agreed, as I struggled to think of a name for my territory. I didn’t hate the cape part. Maybe I could bounce some ideas by Inertia, Tresla and Calbern…

No… Not Calbern. He’d probably just name it Cape Claw or something like that. Chuckling to myself, I followed Tamrie through the Waygate to Verdant Point.

"Was thinking we oughta hold the ceremony here, on account of the refugees not being allowed into the Ways. If you figure out what you wanna call your land, you can work it in, most like," Tamrie said waving down towards a platform that'd been erected not far from the lifts that stretched over the side of the cliff. It was currently half-covered in crates and other miscellaneous supplies.

The others I was expecting were standing next to a non-descript human man who was holding himself back a couple paces. He had a strong frown on his face as he stood there, watching the others with his arms crossed.

"Master Perth," Calbern said, cutting off Selvi. She’d been in the middle of telling Xoth about one of her hunts back when Balthum had still been around. "I believe we have the fundamental positions for a council."

"Really? I said, looking around. Selvi was obviously my guard captain, Xoth was… maybe economic… he definitely wasn’t diplomatic or… Maybe I didn't need specific departments like that, at least not yet.

"Young Alister has a great deal of experience handling loans, discrete logistics and investigative financial journalism," Calbern said, inclining his head slightly in Alister's direction.

"I ain't young," Alister said with the tired annoyance of a man who'd made the correction several times already. The fact Calbern would've needled a man he thought was worth being a councilor so much he was annoyed surprised me.

Right up until I remembered that Calbern only did that with those he liked.

Alister turned towards me, his gaze flicking up and down. He narrowed his eyes, his frown easing slightly. "Your man said I'd get a warm place to sleep."

"Yeah, that's no problem," I said, a little surprised that a warm bed was the first thing the man asked about. It made me worried the shelters weren’t serving their purpose. I nodded to Tamrie, who was already taking notes.

"Good. We can talk about the rest later, but long as I get a warm bed or hammock or whatever your savages use, that'll be a good start," he said, rubbing his arms.

"They're not savages," I replied, my voice losing any of the warmth I might've felt towards the man as the sounds of Tamrie’s pencil stopped behind me.

"Depths, meant nothing by it," Alister said, holding his hands up. "Your man said they couldn't read or write."

"Doesn't make them savages," I said, crossing my arms as I stared him down. Was wondering what exactly Calbern had seen in him to think so highly of such a man.

"Technically, savage means exactly… that is to say, that’s what the word means, if you…" Alister trailed off as I crossed my arms, raising my eyebrow. "Right, doesn't matter. Look, I ain't good at people. I'm here cause your man said you needed someone good with numbers. Me, I'm good with numbers. Real good."

"What're you doing in Verdant Point then? I imagine that even now, Spellford would be a better place for you," I said, nodding southward.

"Well, not everyone ‘preciates when a man catches them trying to fudge the numbers," Alister said, rubbing at his neck. "Especially when that someone is your boss, and you happen to mention it to the big fish, if you catch my meaning."

"Ah," I said, suddenly reassessing the man. "Calbern?"

"I confirmed it, master Perth. He did indeed reveal several corrupt officials in Spellford. The bounty on his head is sizable. It shouldn't generate sufficient trouble to be notable compared to our other ventures, though taking him in does carry some slight risk," Calbern replied, causing Alister's face to go pale as he stared at Calbern. "That said, even before the reveal, young Alister had proven to be a man of good character. Enough so that several of the refugees recognized him and warned us not to take on the bounty, if we wanted them to keep working."

"What?" Alister muttered, his jaw hanging loose as he looked about, as if he could spot these refugees.

Xoth stepped forward, nodding. "He was known as the representative to deal with if you were getting a loan assessed. Or if you needed a proper audit. Exacting but fair."

"Perfect," I said, clapping Alister on the shoulder. “Long as you don’t go around calling my people savages?”

He didn't respond, still staring at Xoth as if the elf had grown a set of flippers on his horns.

With that dealt with, the next few minutes were spent discussing the actual ceremony. Tamrie wanted to hold it as part of the Summer Tide festival. Apparently the Tethered had been enthusiastic in renaming the festival.

"A clean break from the old," Calbern informed me at my confused look. "They associate the Last Calm with Balthum and the loss of their friends and family."

"Right, makes sense," I said. "So, Tamrie mentioned you'd have an unorthodox suggestion. Honestly, Alister doesn't seem unorthodox enough to have deserved a warning."

"Ah. That was not my suggestion," Calbern said, managing to diminish his presence without moving a single muscle. "It concerns a route for training miss Selvi for the responsibilities of her position."

"And what was that?"

Calbern hesitated, his gaze growing distant. Then he shook his head minutely, giving me an uneven smile. "The Pox Knights… always honor their contracts."