"SJ. Good timing," Zigferd called, seeing her walk through the main office area where the model of the town was situated.
"Morning Zigferd. How are you this morning?"
"Better than many after last night. Did Cristy enjoy herself?"
"Until she awoke this morning, but Kerys sorted that once we got to the inn for breakfast."
"I wish I had some rejuvinatus this morning," Zigferd said, rubbing his temples. "Right. The reason I say it's good timing is that I have just heard that Niweq has agreed to come within the town's boundaries."
"Really?" SJ answered with surprise.
"It seems that since Bastvik has moved out of the Wandering Ogre, Niweq no longer feels as confident about maintaining the inn by himself. The chancellor's cousin was bringing the perks of his position with him while he was staying there, and they are no longer available. With the increase in new beings to the town, his guest numbers have increased, but along with it, so have his problems. He was getting weekly shipments of ales from the brewers' guild in Asterfal under agreements that are now falling under the newly implemented toll system across the borders. His costs are increasing exponentially, and having to cover the toll costs on top of the rise in ale prices is driving his costs up and his profits down dramatically. He would like to discuss a trade deal."
"What sort of trade deal? We don't deal with Asterfal for ales. I am not even sure how Kerys goes about her ale production or what she gets from the villages. I know she has some deals in place."
"Do you think you could discuss with her and find out if there is something we could consider for the future?"
"Do we really want to start looking at ale imports? Maybe Kerys could provide Niweq with his ale. Although I am not sure she would wish to."
"With the expansion, we are going to have to look at various imports. Unless we can get the new fields sorted for grain production and general crop farming and the increase in the hunting expansion needs for meat, we will end up having to import various produce."
"I hadn't considered the needs outside of our main produce until you mentioned it."
"I have Kashir confirming the expected quantities and performing some checks on potential increases."
Kashir was one of the department members who worked in the barrack's open area. He oversaw the markets in the town. Isavil had been offering him guidance since she had arrived back in Killic with Zigferd, and he was learning quickly. Isavil's market and trade knowledge was insurmountable. Her experience over the decades she had worked in Asterfal was at a level that none in Killic could ever fathom. She had been supporting Zigferd with the projections of growth and expansion that were being discussed in the council, and with the increase of five hundred beings already in the town, if the rate continued as it had started, food shortages were projected to hit the town before the second harvest was due.
"We need to prioritise the expansion plans for the Wandering Ogre. The ground can be cultivated easily. I spoke to Blossom, who has her flower patch in the woods close to the inn, and she believes it would be fertile ground once prepared," SJ said.
"We will have to. I will be announcing the plans at the harvest festival. It should also increase the number of jobs available to work the land."
"Does the town interface support your projections?"
Since her return from Asterfal, Zigferd had explained elements of the interface to SJ. The interface appeared as though it summarised everything in the town, including resource and population counts. Zigferd had offered to add SJ to the interface but couldn't do so because town size limits reduced the number of those who could access it. The next available slot for access rights would be when the town reached a population of eight thousand. Currently, only Zigferd and Alice had access to it.
"It does, unfortunately. The current population limit for what we produce sits at just over six thousand."
"Won't that affect our exports, and also, could we not restrict rights to stay in town?"
"We could, but that would cause other problems. Many who have arrived are after a fresh start and a new life away from the villages they may have been living in or the territories they were in. Now that the border is open to some of our neighbours. Many of the new members from the surrounding villages are hoping to stay."
"And I was going to talk to you about further increases," SJ sighed.
"Increases?"
"Yeah, the border. I have been sitting on experience to reach level 20 now for over two months. All the quests I have been doing have just kept adding to my stored experience. I wish to progress soon. I want to look into the guilds and also get my second portal to Asterfal sorted."
"What is your experience now?"
"I am at twenty-six thousand three hundred out of nine thousand." SJ had been completing quests alongside all her other activities and continuing to gain significant benefits from reputation bonuses. Also, with the increase in her equipment enchantments, nothing she had had to face had even been a slight challenge for her."
"Wow. You have two levels. That should take you straight to twenty-one."
After speaking to Dave, SJ was aware that the experience needed for level twenty-one had increased substantially. To reach level twenty-one, she would need a further fourteen thousand experience. Currently, she would have over three thousand experience towards level twenty-two, which required nineteen thousand to level.
"Now, can you understand my predicament?"
Zigferd scrunched his face up in thought. "Maybe we can consider it. The wall is going well in the valley. I would expect completion within a month. Bert's cousins have been amazing helping out with the construction."
"If I levelled, do you think that there would be such a sudden shift?"
"Not immediately, I doubt it anyway, and to be honest, the only change we saw with your last increase was our wyvern visitor. Who hasn't been an issue recently. My only concern is if we have any more flying visitors of higher levels. It would mean level thirty to forty monsters could cross the boundary."
"It would also allow our guards and yourself to level again. I know your experience gains are restricted to when you are in Asterfal completing the duties as the mayor. The same applies to Alice. If we open another level, you can gain daily by completing your usual tasks as mayor. There are, after all, several in the town who would benefit from the increases."
"My concern is the south. It would open the area up to those who live in the desert region. Some vicious tribes live there and beasts. I bet some would love the chance to cross borders into a more fertile territory."
"They can only access the area through the tunnel, though, and I thought that the tunnel was guarded?"
The tunnel was the only route to reach the desert region unless you wished to face climbing the sheer cliff face of the plateau or for those that could fly. You might cross into the western territory and work your way around the mountains to reach it, but this meant going through even higher-level territory boundaries, which many wouldn't chance. Rumours circulated about villages east of Killic, fearing the border opening would make them targets.
"It has a guard posted, and there have been several sightings near its exit to the desert area. The dwarves are looking into building a door on it once the wall is finished construction."
"Could we not switch some of the resources from the wall to complete that first? That way, it would give us protection from the desert region."
"We could, but we would still open up the western border as well, which could bring other beasts. It is not just the beasts or creatures that may traverse the boundaries. It is also the tribes. Killic was always secure from threat historically after the initial outlying areas and boundaries were in place, but the system changes are straining many now."
"Why don't you just block the tunnel for now?" Dave suddenly said. The trolls could easily block it, and once it was ready, it would be simple to remove and construct a door.
'I hadn't thought of that,' SJ thought.
"Can we not just temporarily block the tunnel entrance for now?"
Zigferd scratched his beard thoughtfully. "I suppose we could do. It would be a dirty solution for now. However, we still have concerns about the western boundary. There are several areas where the territory touches other areas at narrow points, meaning that things may cross."
SJ opened her map. She had been trying to open the map to show the borders over the past two months, so the fog of war had cleared for a large part of the area around Killic now. The northern route to Asterfal was secure with the gate at the crags. The east of town moved into the mountain range, and the path was pretty impassable for many. The forest covered the ground leading towards the area where Darren had found the cave where Alice had been held with the greylings, but there wasn't much there apart from the mountains. Killic was in a powerful position defensively, especially once the valley defences were finished.
The territory that Killic sat in still spread for a substantial distance to the west once you crossed the valley. The terrain became hilly and open in areas covered by thick forest. The entire territory was fertile if only the ground could be cultivated properly. The problem was that the space around Killic itself would require the forest to be cut back to allow for the continuing expansion of the town infrastructure.
"I could always just increase my levels anyway," SJ said, shrugging.
Zigferd frowned, his eyebrows almost meeting in the middle. After a moment, his face relaxed again. "I know you could, and I am grateful that you have held off so far. I can understand how tempting it is. I used to crave my level increases in my youth. Let me take the suggestion to the council."
"Do we need the council's permission to approve my levelling? Is this not, after all, my choice?"
Zigferd again looked at SJ, not replying for several moments. "It is, but your levelling has the potential to impact so many. I am sure you understand my concerns."
"I do," SJ sighed. "It is just frustrating waiting so long. If I had not become so invested in the town, I may never have even known the impact that my levels could have."
"I am just glad that you have become invested," Zigferd smiled.
"There are a few things I also want to look into adding to the town."
"Such as?"
"A suggestion was made about the recent increase in fighting between new members of the town wanting to prove their power and worth. I was considering organising a fighting tournament."
"A tournament, you say."
"Initially, I was thinking of a fight club, but we don't need cages, and we could organise a tournament that would allow members to compete for rewards. It would get a lot of the problems off the streets and give some of the new members a focus."
"What events would you consider?"
"Swordsmanship, archery, brawling, martial arts, etc. It could be alongside the harvest festival as a celebration event."
"It's not a bad idea. Who would you get to run it? The harvest festival is only two weeks away."
"I was thinking, Lorna and Ballentine. Maybe even offer Jay the opportunity to be a judge? It may persuade him to stay in Killic a little longer."
"I will speak to Ballentine and see what he thinks. Why, whenever we talk, do I end up with a longer to-do list?"
"Because I am full of so many good ideas," SJ beamed as she turned to leave.
"You should just level," Dave said.
'I can't. You know I want to, but I can't just ignore the impact it could have on the town. If something happened that affected my friends, I would never forgive myself.'
"I know," Dave sighed. "I got another few layers of code finished. I am seriously struggling to decode the current level. It's a 512-character lock code."
SJ couldn't even possibly imagine the number of combinations such a code would require to break it. Since the vision change that Dave had instigated, the synchronisation between the two of them had been slowly increasing. They were now sitting at 54%, and it appeared to gain 1% per two weeks currently. Nothing new had opened up to Dave to allow him to change anything, although SJ could sometimes feel a strange sensation when she considered certain things. It was as though she were seeing things from a different perspective, not because of her 360-degree vision, but the appearance of certain things. She could not explain it in words, and her thoughts made little sense to Dave, either. There was just a level of strangeness occasionally, which she couldn't put her finger on.
SJ left Zigferd's office and made her way downstairs to her office. Because of her position and the frequent visitors from Asterfal to Killic, she had been assigned a small office on the ground floor. It was nothing as opulent or had the grandeur of the offices they had been issued while in Asterfal, but she had made it her own. On the table sat the usual bundle of letters that were delivered regularly alongside the other communications from Asterfal. The role of ambassador had become quite time-consuming alongside everything else that SJ did daily.
Over the past couple of months since her return, she had got into a routine again. She had still been travelling back to Farleck every evening, last night being the only exception. Each morning, when she awoke, she would spend thirty minutes performing her daily kata down by the small jetty. The morning air and calm of the lake always settled her for the day ahead. She would then have breakfast before porting back to Killic. Then, every evening on her return, she would set aside at least an hour to perform her tailoring. She currently had two orders at the auction house for certain items she was after. She knew she could have gone to Nexis and purchased them if necessary, but she didn't like continually relying on him.
Kibble jumped from her shoulder and landed on his cushion behind her desk. He had adopted a routine like SJ, aware they would be here for the next couple of hours while SJ handled communications. Turning around in several small circles, he stomped his tiny feet, pummelling the cushion into the shape he wanted before he curled his tiny body up and settled.
"Good boy," SJ said.
Kibble lifted his head and gave a small squeak before placing it back down and closing his eyes.
SJ was busy writing a reply to one of Asterfal's council members when she received a knock on her door. Her door was always open, and she never closed it unless she was discussing something sensitive.
"Ambassador," Bastvik said.
"Bastvik. Come in, and please call me SJ. What can I do for you?"
Bastvik entered and pushed the door to. Since he had left the Wandering Ogre, he had moved into a house near the docks and was now involved in the discussions about the proposed plans for a garrison.
"It isn't actually me who needs your support. It's the chancellor."
That piqued SJ's interest immediately. "The chancellor. What does he need?"
"It is rather delicate, and the reason I am coming to you is that you are outside of Asterfal's usual remit. There is currently a campaign in progress in Asterfal trying to oust him from his position as chancellor."
"That seems a little sudden. The last report from the council we had was that everything was going well."
"He believes that it has been started by one or more of the districts, and he would like you to investigate and potentially deal with the matter."
"Why me?"
"Neutrality. The political happenings of the city council do not directly influence you. He doesn't wish to use anyone in the city. Since the ousting of District 3 and the execution of Jelart, there was a certain level of discontent. I am sure the reports must have even reached Killic regarding the issues that happened afterwards."
SJ had indeed heard that there had been riots across several districts, but she believed the tower guard had been dispatched to deal with them.
"I thought calm had been restored, and by dealing with the matter, what exactly does he mean?"
Bastvik looked down slightly, not wishing to meet SJ's eyes. "I think you know what he means."
"Now, this is interesting," Dave said. "Being hired by the chancellor to perform assassination jobs inside his city potentially."
'I can't just get there yet. I have no portal, and suddenly leaving Killic for the time it takes to get there and back isn't viable currently.'
"Go with Alice. She will be back before the harvest festival. So if you go now and come back, you will still be back in time. You said you wanted to see Larianco and get an update on whether she had discovered anything from the fae capital."
"What are your thoughts?" Bastvik asked.
"I need a little time to consider whether I can do it. I have no problems with the request; it is more the logistics behind it that bother me."
"I understand. It is not a small ask."
"What is the chancellor offering in regard to this task?"
SJ's display triggered.
Quest - Investigate the malcontent - Part 1
The chancellor has asked you to help find the cause of the recent problems in Asterfal. Could you identify the source of the issues and report your findings?
Rewards: 5 gold
"Nice reward and it's a multi-part quest as well," Dave said.
'It's still in Asterfal! I seriously need to level and set another soul stone.'
After a moment, SJ replied to Bastvik. "I am not sure yet when I can confirm. I will need a couple of days."
"That is fine. There is no rush. The chancellor is aware of the time needed to travel to Asterfal even if you were to accept, and the duration of time needed to identify any parties."
"Okay. I need to go and meet the trade councillor; he is due soon."
"Of course. Thank you for your time," Bastvik said as he turned and left her office. SJ watched him go. When she had first met the secretive Bastvik at the Wandering Ogre, she had been uncertain whether he had been the instigator of the proposed attack on Fran. That issue still hadn't been resolved fully, and with the extended issues around her and the link to the dark elves, she felt more certain that she had always been the target.
"Come on, Kibble," she said as she pushed her chair back and stood stretching off. The remaining administration will have to wait until later. Kibble stood stretching before hopping up onto her shoulder. She removed a small piece of dried meat from her inventory and handed it to Kibble, who wolfed it down happily, purring in her ear. "And be nice. I have never met this representative before." SJ left, closed her office door behind her, and made her way to the stables.
