Chapter 3
“This is your office in Penny’s,” I explained to Mirko. “You can look down on the operation, but no one can see in. My office is on the opposite side of the bar.”
“Yes. This is the bar, obviously. Then out that end, there are the private baths and the private rooms. The other end of the bar leads to the teleporter chamber. Every dungeon with access to Penny's dumps there. Then we bleed ‘em dry of mana crystals with booze, women, and luxury.”
“Can they get supplies here as well?” Mirko asked.
I laughed. “If they can restock and get repairs, they wouldn't have to go back to the surface as often. Fuck.”
Mirko eyed me cautiously.
“That's why I wanted to hire you. We've been down here for 30 seconds, and you have already improved the concept.”
“What do we do if a fight breaks out? It's all high-level adventurers.”
“Silk soldiers will be all over when we open,” I answered. “You won't have to worry about security.”
“Very nice,” Mirko said with an approving nod, his eyes still taking in the bar.
“You already know that the first teleporter in your office connects to the Northern Rangers guild hall in Lopav. Let me show you the other.”
A blink later, we stood in a penthouse in the middle of Sanctuary South. Mirko had a view of the city in every direction and three floors in total to do with as he pleased.
“Gods…” He stepped toward the glass windows with wonder. “You built all this?”
I nodded. “No one has moved in yet, so it probably feels pretty empty.”
“No, it's incredible. Not only did you build this, but you did it in the southern lands. It doesn't feel real.” Mirko saw the castle across the city and belly laughed. “I take it that's where you live.”
“That’s correct, and I know I'm asking a lot of you,” I said. “You deserve to be compensated accordingly. Anything you want is yours. If you decide you want a summer home in Zaglis, you get that too. Women? Demons? As many as you want. You'll never be bored.”
“I'm a bit older than you. I enjoy a rowdy night or two, but I don't think I'd be able to keep up with your level of revelry.”
“Only my party can keep up, so don't feel bad. I don't care what you do as long as it's what you want. Your life, your call.”
“I might need some time to acclimate,” Mirko began, “but I'll manage. In the meantime, I've been giving your business situation a great deal of thought.”
“I'm listening.”
“To protect you, we should build a book of legit business by buying up active operations in major cities. All such business will be conducted under an alias. If Goddess forbid you get burned and have to go to ground, you still have a money machine at your disposal. Until then, it’s a money machine your enemies won’t know to target. ”
“I like it,” I said.
“The usual recommendation that comes next is to try to attach yourself to the highest-ranking people you can. For most guildies, that ends up being people like aldermen, mayors, merchants, and so on. We should skip right to kings and queens in your case. Get them placing big orders for our merchandise.”
Mirko’s thinking was in line with what mine used to be, and that had changed only recently. The day prior to my tour with Mirko, I was in Queen Ashley’s bed in the Capital castle. Her body glistened from the romp we just shared.
While we basked in that afterglow, Ashley suggested we think more about international trade.
She was like that. Business and pleasure were no different to her, so there was never a divide between topics and subjects that you might expect from a typical person.
She could ride my cock and talk about this or that political negotiation and still cum just as hard.
Perhaps, harder.
On that day, she argued against selling any of our new merchandise directly, which was a big pivot when Stacey had been slaving away at churning out gear for potential customers.
“We should consider reversing the decision to distribute our silk weapons and armor,” she said.
“Tell me more about that.”
“We need people to travel to this city if you want anyone to open businesses here. Make the merchants come to us. They use our inns, drink at our taverns, and go to our shops for supplies. That bit of profit we lose gets made up for a hundred times over if the city thrives.”
“If we ship all of that product out of the city ourselves, merchants have far fewer reasons to ever come to us. Yeah, I think you’re right.”
“That approach benefits the Capital as well. The nation protecting Sanctuary South will be more successful and prosperous because of that trade, since that’s where the only gate is, and that makes the new city safer as a result.”
“You’re so fucking sexy,” I said to the Queen.
I decided right then I wanted to finish on a Queen’s face. I grabbed the silk around her neck and guided her head to my lap. She smiled and pulled back that blanket.
At any rate, because of Ashley’s reasoning, I told Mirko we were going about trade a little differently.
“We will let the merchants come to us,” I said to him that day in his penthouse.
“We need that traffic in the city, even if we lose a little bit of coin on the merchandise.
Go ahead and get our existing interests streamlined with city traffic in mind, then we can get into building the book of legit businesses.
That's plenty to keep us busy for a while.”
“Agreed,” Mirko said, turning to take in his view. “Being the only person in a whole city is a strange feeling.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing that change. How is Samson’s castle coming along, by the way? If this is going to impede that, we can wait. His getting testy is bad for both of us.”
“You and I are on the same page,” he replied. “As it is now, I need an hour a day at most. Check the site. Compare blueprints. Get a rundown from the foreman. Write Samson an update. Done.”
“If that changes, tell me.”
“Understood.”
I sighed. “I should probably pay him a visit, actually.”
If I wanted more trade to happen in Sanctuary South, I had to consider expanding my horizons.
“An interesting surprise,” Samson Oliverry said, sipping a cocktail.
He sat with his feet up on a couch. In the middle of the room, about where a coffee table would go, a woman was tied facedown to a wooden spanking horse, the hard, pointed peak pressing into her while a second woman flogged her. Both were naked. Samson sipped casually as he watched.
“Do you bring business?” he asked.
“Pleasure.”
Samson raised an eyebrow. “Even more interesting.”
“How would you like to see more of the material plane?”
“Go on.”
The girl on the horse whined and lightly sobbed when the other girl put down the whip and started to use her bare hand.
“Grubiit is now open to you,” I said. “I’ve already extended the dungeon aura for your presence.”
“So it's true. You defeated the Gol-Gol brothers.”
“Yes.”
“How did you achieve such a thing?”
“You expected me to die.”
“Of course,” Samson said as if that was a dumb question.
“We should bleed this one slowly.”
I shrugged. “I hit him with my sword.”
“Nonsense.”
“Because of the physical damage immunity?”
Samson nodded. I don't know where it came from, but he produced a large paddle and handed it to the woman doing the spanking. The woman on the horse shook her head in fear.
“I figured out that there's actually a cap on that immunity,” I explained. “If you exceed that cap, all the damage goes through.”
To be clear: None of that was true. I used silk condoms and tentacle dicks to defeat the brothers. But Samson was a prick, and I saw an opportunity to make him reconsider his assessment of me. If I could smash the Gol-Gol brothers, and the Frozen Fiend feared them, then he should fear me too.
He couldn't make sense of how I managed to succeed, and he hated that fact.
I changed the subject with the hopes of avoiding further agitating the demon. “Can I ask you about cities in the hells?”
Samson thought for a moment. “What interests you?”
“People on this plane describe those cities as if they are raging warzones. I have a hard time believing that's the case.”
Samson nodded, “Our way of life is difficult for humans to fathom. Many demons are Lawful Evil by nature, but even those who aren't understand the value of neutral ground.”
“So like a human city?”
“Demons have more respect. Your cities are full of killers and thieves. In the hells, no one would dare betray the terms of a neutral zone.”
“So your cities are more orderly with stricter enforcement?”
“In a way, but I don't believe our definitions of orderly are the same,” Samson said. “Our streets are filled with sex and violence, a luxury that human cities lack. Such things are either consensual or delivered upon prisoners and slaves.”
“How is a neutral zone established?”
“A demon who is feared and respected guarantees and enforces it. That is the basis for our monarchy. Any who call themselves kings or queens have achieved this."
“Fool. Fool. Fool. Demons will be the ruin of you, of us.”
“Thank you for humoring me,” I said. “If you need any suggestions for a visit to Grubiit, let me know. If you'd like, I can set up a teleporter node. Give me the half I need, and I’ll do the rest.”
Some very aggressive fingering began in my periphery, distracting me for a moment.
I stood. “That was all I needed. I shall leave you to your hobbies.”
“If you're hungry, you are welcome to consume one or both of them,” Samson said, gesturing at the naked women. “I think the one who is unbound will make delicious noises when she suffers. She fancies herself a woman of confidence, and those are always the most fun to break.”
The woman froze.
“I'm afraid I can't stay,” I said, “but thank you.”
Samson raised his glass as I departed. “A friend bringing good news is always welcome.”
Controlling my reaction required enormous effort. Fucking demons. The consistency was admirable in a way. The moment he decided I could be a real threat to him, his self-preservation instincts adapted.
Now he called me friend only to ensure that we did not become enemies. He was no better than Horpus, but watching the Frozen Fiend make the same pivot brought me an enormous amount of satisfaction.
I met this particular Dungeon Lord when my levels were in single digits, and I was always aware he could snuff me out with barely a thought. Now, he worried I might be capable of doing the same to him. I loved the reversal of our dynamic.
At the same time, I needed to be careful.
If my real strength was discovered, which is to say I had much less of it than I let on, I would end up worse off than I was before, especially if I embarrassed the Frozen Fiend in any way.
Few people appreciated being played for the fool, archfiends least of all.
Relying on a perception of strength would only invite people who wanted to test it, and I would fail. Until I was strong enough, I needed my foes to think about anything other than violence against me. For Samson, that meant making him feel unthreatened.
“Watching a being of power kowtow to you is orgasmic, is it not?”
“Yes, it is.”
“I understand what you're asking, but I don't know how to go about it,” Podni said, chewing her cheek as she thought intensely.
“I'm not expecting you to. I need your help to figure it out.”
Ashley’s talk about giving people reasons to visit Sanctuary South had stuck in my mind because she was right. I had initially assumed that building something impressive, beautiful, and novel would attract residents and tourists in droves, but that was naive.
We had to have something to offer merchants, a business opportunity that justified making the trip. Refusing to ship silk weapons and shields would get a few caravans coming and going, but we needed more than that.
One of my solutions hinged upon having a steady supply of high-level magic items, particularly aspect tomes. I knew how to do that, and my grigori Cici would play a part, but I needed to travel to the bottom of every dungeon personally for that plan to work.
And the plan would, in fact, work. It just wasn’t ready yet.
My other idea for bolstering the economy of Sanctuary South was one I had before but discarded, but I now saw reason to fish it from the trash and dust it off.
Cities at major crossroads often flourished as trading hubs, and port cities benefited from a similar effect.
Merchants met and conducted business in these places because they were natural halfway points for dozens of scattered communities.
I needed Sanctuary South to become a major hub, and the only secret to that was being between two high-value places.
When I originally envisioned my city of sin, I pictured it in the dungeon and frequented by humans and demons alike. I changed my mind because opening a road to the material plane for demons to travel seemed unwise with Abaddon on the hunt.
That was still a concern, but at the same time, I needed to make radical progress to have any chance of beating him.
I had to take the risk. Access to goods on the material plane would draw demons, and access to goods from the hells would draw humans. Owning the trading grounds would generate revenue as well as political capital on two planes.
But how would one go about starting that from nothing? That was the conundrum.
“My real estate sales weren't typical, so I don't really have experience selling property the traditional way you're describing,” Podni added. “I feel like I can figure out selling to people, but I don't know where I'd start with selling to demons.”
“How about this: Prepare a summary of what's available, commercial and residential, with high points on space and features.”
“That's already done,” Podni said.
“Yeah?”
Podni thumbed through pages in a leather pouch and removed two. I noticed it was in her handwriting.
“You did this?” I asked.
She nodded.
“You're pretty prepared for someone who wouldn't know where to start.”
Podni blushed.
“This is exactly what I needed. Thank you.”